Peacekeepers
by TRGoheythatsME
Summary: Follow four unfortunate teens as they try to survive a government "game" known as the Peace Wars. Watch as the team experience death, romance, conflict, memories, and so much more. And hear the story from the point of view of the witty, yet clumsy, Chris. And the emotional, but maternal, Trina Deuhart. And the young, but mighty Rosie McDonald. And last but not least, the sexy Peta.


**Night 1**

I ran and I ran, determined to never look back. All I could think of was running. I didn't care where I was going, or how long it would take me to get there. Hell! I didn't even care that I was in the woods in the middle of the night. I just knew I had to survive!

I had been running for quite some time now, but it wasn't really an issue because I was trained for this. The only real problem was that this was a game and I was being hunted by a couple of extremely fierce Peacekeepers.

Peacekeepers, if you didn't know, are like security guards, but a lot worse. They are trained to hunt and kill players in the yearly _Peace Wars_. I know you're probably wondering what the _Peace Wars _are, so I'll just tell you.

The _Peace Wars_,are a set of games that each state in the U.S. has to play. There are 20 players forced to participate in each state, and the players are all juveniles like me. They also put orphans who have no luck getting adopted into the games.

The object of the game is for the players to live in cabins in the forest for 14 whole days. They are each assigned a designated teammate to sleep with and are encouraged to help their teammate out at all times.

The players are confined to the areas of the forest at all times. In the daytime, you can safely search for food placed in various areas of the forest. But when the sun goes down, the Peacekeepers come out. They look for whoever they can find dumb enough to be out at night and kill them. If you're lucky enough to survive the Peacekeepers, then you'll probably die from starvation, open wounds, ticks, poisonous berries, or even wasps.

After 14 days, whoever else is still alive gets to go to the capital in New York City. Then they have a big feast and prepare for the _Final Battle _held in a different location each year.

Now, back to the present day where I was being hunted down by a couple of fierce, merciless Peacekeepers in the middle of the night.

My heart was pumping so fast I could feel each heartbeat against my chest. My lungs felt like they were about to burst and I could hear the Peacekeepers quickly gaining up on me. Off in the distance I could barely make out the walls of 10 cabins. The noises were getting louder every second so I ran as fast as my legs would allow and hoped I wouldn't pass out before I got to the cabins.

I was only a few feet away from my own cabin when a big, dark shadow stopped in front of me. A Peacekeeper! Sweat dripped down my forehead as I held my breath waiting for my untimely demise. Within seconds, the Peacekeeper's hands were tightly squeezing my neck. While being suffocated, I noticed the Peacekeeper had on a black hood and shades. I had never seen a real Peacekeeper before, only on TV or posters, so I was really scared.

I was a very quick thinker, so the first thing I decided to do was kick the Peacekeeper as hard as I could in the groin. I didn't expect him to do anything, but to my surprise, he quickly let me go and stepped back, causing me to fall to the ground.

I saw he was distracted holding his groin so I quickly backed up, my eyes glued on the Peacekeeper. Then I quickly turned over onto my hands and got to my feet, running away. But then I realized I was supposed to be going the other way. Before I could even stop running, I tripped over a log and was falling face first into the dirt. I sat up, and sure enough, the Peacekeeper was coming after. This time he had a friend.

I quickly got to my feet again and ran to the right. Knowing I had to make a U-Turn, I turned to the right once more. The cabin was _so _close, yet _so_ far away. The Peacemakers, on the other hand, were right behind me. I _knew_ I was going to die, so I just closed my eyes and ran.

Being the clumsy boy I am, I tripped _again._ Yeah, _again! _But this time I looked up to see a pair of legs. It was my partner, Trina, standing at the door of our cabin.

"Trina! Help-" Before I could even finish my sentence, something grabbed my leg. I turned my head to see one of the Peacekeepers staring me dead in the eye.

"Chris!" shrieked Trina. I began kicking to get him off of me but to no avail. My life flashed before my very eyes.

Everything happened so slowly and dramatically! I held my breath the entire time, and then, just when I thought I was going to die, time itself stopped. I felt the hand let go of my leg and I quickly turned around to see a little girl, about 11 years of age, smiling at me with a knife in one hand. The Peacekeeper was lying on his stomach with a gaping hole in his back, and blood coming out.

Trina was too shocked to even speak, and I had no idea what the hell had just happened. The little girl slowly came closer to us, still holding the knife, and I quickly backed up in fear.

She saw my frightened face and quickly whispered, "No! It's okay! I'm not gonna hurt you." On that note, I slowly got to my feet, dusting myself off. She walked closer, still smiling at me. "I'm Rosie!" she said, holding her hand out, probably so I could shake it.

After she realized I _wasn't _going to shake it, she swiftly put her hand down. "I'm Chris, and that's-"

"Trina, I know. I could hear you guys screaming a mile away!" she interrupted with a smile. Suddenly her smile vanished and she looked very serious. "Anyways, my partner, Phil, was just-"she choked on her words "-he was just, um-" she stopped and looked down. I saw a tear drop slowly make its way down her smooth, brown skin. "Can I sleep with you guys tonight?" she finally said, looking up at our faces.

Trina looked at me with an empathetic look upon her face and quickly responded with, "Um, of course you can, Rosie!" Just then, we heard rustling up in the trees. "Come on before something else happens!" We all eagerly rushed into our cabin, shutting the door behind us.

I jumped into my bed and Trina flopped herself into hers. Rosie stood against the door, looking at us. "Where am I gonna sleep?" Rosie asked, frowning. Trina and I exchanged looks of guilt, then, after Trina realized that I wasn't going to let Rosie sleep with me, she looked over at Rosie with a big, yet fake, smile.

"You can sleep with me!" Trina said to Rosie, gesturing for her to come closer. Rosie ran straight to Trina with a huge smile and hugged her as tight as she could.

"Thank you _so _much, Trina!" exclaimed Rosie, letting go of her. "You're the _best _mother I've ever had! And I've had a lot, bein' an orphan and all!" I saw Trina's smile quickly disappear as she said the word _orphan, _and I know exactly why: **Trina was also an orphan**. That's the only reason why she was here.

You see, Trina was put up for adoption when she was only 6 years old because her parents weren't financially stable enough to raise her. While in the orphanage, she was a shy, socially awkward child, and still is from time to time. She was also a very awkward child compared to all the other orphans. Because she was so awkward and shy, nobody would adopt her. Since nobody wanted to adopt her, she ended up having to train for the _Peace Wars _when she turned 14. After she turned 16 years old, she was signed up to participate in the 2120 annual _Peace Wars._

I think I'm getting off topic again, so I'll just get back to the present day again. Rosie was lying in bed, going to sleep, while Trina was probably silently sobbing to herself so Rosie and I wouldn't hear. As for me, I was thinking about the next 13 days of the _Peace Wars._

I was thinking about Rosie, and how she saved me that night. I was also thinking about Trina and how she had almost no chance of survival without me. I really didn't think _any _of us had a chance of surviving the _Peace Wars, _let alone the _Final Battle! _But I knew I had to _try, _at least for the sake of Rosie and Trina. They both deserved to live, because it wasn't even _their _fault that they were put into these stupid _Peace Wars! _It was the damn government's fault for even starting this damn thing in the first place!

My mind was dealing with dozens of tedious, yet extremely mind numbing thoughts. So I decided to let my mind rest for the night, slowly forcing my restless eyelids shut and shoving those horrible thoughts out of my head.

**Day 2**

The next morning, I woke up unusually early for some reason. I looked over at Rosie and Trina only to see they were fast asleep. I knew I could go outside because there'd be no Peacekeepers, but I wasn't really an outdoorsmen, so I hesitated to walk to the door. I took one last look at the girls before slowly turning the doorknob and pulling it open.

I felt a cold chill on my neck as I looked out into the bright forest. I turned around to see Rosie smiling up at me, causing me to jump. My heart skipped a beat. "How did you-"

"You shoulda saw your face!" she laughed. "You was all like-" she imitated me being scared "-and I was just standin' there smilin'!" She had a really cute laugh, but it's really irritating when someone laughs at you.

"Ha ha. Very funny," I said, sarcastically, looking outside, then back at her, saying, "Look, are you good at hunting and stuff?"

She stopped laughing, and gave me a serious look, then said, "Of course! I saved _you_, didn't I?" I gestured for her to come outside with me, and closed the door behind us.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, bending over a little so I would be on her level. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I _guess _so. I mean, I haven't eaten since I left the training camp yesterday night." I stared into her cool blue eyes and her cute baby faced smile. I saw that her hair was a mass of puffy, black curls.

"So…" I said, not having any skills of survival in the wilderness, whatsoever. "What do we do?" She looked at me as if I was the 11 year old and she was the 16 year old.

"I know what _I'm _gonna do!" she said confidently. _"_I don't know about _you, _but _I'm _gonna go look for some breakfast!" I looked at her as she arrogantly turned around and walked off into the woods, alone.

I was so upset, yet so amused. I ran after her, ready to yell at her. When I caught up to her, I grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her towards me. "Look, little girl! I don't know who you think you are, but I'm trying to _help _you. Okay? So we'll go _together!_ Got it?"

"Yeah!" she said, smiling again. She then happily began to skip ahead of me. I was very confused at that point, but I just decided to go with the flow. I caught up with her again, but this time, I was willing to let _her_ be the parent.

"So what should we do?" I asked, impatiently. "Cause I'm hungry as a-" I realized who I was talking to "-a fat person." I could see her roll her eyes.

"Umm, how about we split up and search for food?" she asked, looking to her left and right. I pretended to think for a second.

"Ummmmm…." I said, scratching my head. "How about….no! We need to stick together if we wanna survive!" She gave in because she knew I was right.

"Fine! But I'm not gonna like it!" she protested. I folded my arms and began walking to my right.

"I never said you had to," I added, turning around to see her still following me. I was now walking backwards, and I knew I was going to trip, but I couldn't care less whether or not I fell at the moment. All I could think about doing was protecting Rosie and getting food. And then, I realized that I should've brought Trina!

As you all know, I can be really clumsy! So with my mind on Trina and my feet moving in reverse, I tripped over an ingrown tree root. Upon impact, I twisted my right ankle and bruised both elbows from hitting the hard ground.

Rosie ran to my side with a worried look. "Oh no! Are you okay?" she cried. I sat up as far as I could, wincing in pain.

"Ughh, I think so," I slowly replied. "Do you think you could get Trina?" She looked into the direction we had come, then shifted her eyes back to me and my injuries.

"Umm…" she thought aloud. "I mean, I _could_. But wouldn't you rather we go find a first-aid kit somewhere around here?" I thought that was a terrible idea. Having to search for food in the forest is one thing, but having to look for supplies with injuries is a totally different story!

"But I think there's a first-aid kit back at the cabin!" I protested. "We can go to the cabin-" I sat up a little, wincing in even more pain "-and get the first-aid kit. Then we'll come back out with Trina and search for food."

She thought to herself for a moment, and then she said, "Fine. Let's go!" She stood up, helping me to my feet. I put my left arm over her shoulder, letting her guide me back towards the cabins. She chuckled and said, "You're heavy! You know that?"

"Shut up!" I laughed, trying to console the pain.

"What?" Rosie giggled. "It's _true!_ You needa go on a diet, boy!" I laughed a little, barely feeling the once unbearable pain.

Once we got back to the cabin, Trina was still in bed. "Is she seriously still asleep?" I exclaimed.

"I know, right!" added Rosie. "She needa get her lazy butt up!" So she ran up beside Trina's bed, and slowly pushed her off the bed and onto the floor.

The moment she hit the floor, she screamed and stood up. "What the hell was that for?" Trina demanded, still half asleep.

Rosie looked at me and we laughed at her. Our laughing was interrupted by my returning aches and pains. "Ouch!" I exaggerated. "I fell and we're back for the first-aid kit." I held tightly onto my right shoulder.

"And…." Rosie soon added. "Lover boy here wanted to come and get you from your castle, Sleeping Beauty!" She chuckled to herself for a moment, though I wasn't amused, of course. "But seriously, we need you to help look for some food!"

"Oh, okay," she responded. "And here's the first-aid kit." She tossed me a red and white box that had the words FIRST-AID written on it. I opened it up, and looked back at Trina. Trina laughed and rolled her eyes. "Ughhh! Fine! I'll do it for you!" She walked over to me, snatching the kit from me. "Gimme this! Sometimes I wonder bout you, Chris," she mumbled to herself, while messing around with the contents within the box.

She pulled out a band-aid and gently put it on my elbow. Then she got out a piece of gauze and wrapped it tightly around my arm joint. I winced in pain as it squeezed my forearm. It felt like it was restricting my blood flow.

"Oh, hush up, ya big baby!" joked Rosie. "It's just gauze!" I gave her a 'Did-I-_Ask_-You-What-It-Was' face. In return, she stuck her tongue out at me and I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Stop movin'!" Trina said, still messing with my injuries. "You're gonna make me mess up!" I stayed as still as possible, all the while staring into Trina's beautiful green eyes. Every few seconds, she would look up at me and fix her amazingly luscious, brown hair, smiling the whole entire time.

She stopped dealing with my elbow and looked at me with a smile. She giggled and said, "What's wrong?" I shook my head slowly, with my eyes still glued on her perfect, green eyes.

"Nothing," I said softly. "It's just…I never really noticed how pretty you are." I could see her pretty tan cheeks begin to blush as I talked. "Sorry, I bet you think I'm weird and stupid now, right?" I groaned. "I shouldn't have said anything! I'm so stupid sometimes!"

"No, it's okay!" she said, with a big smile. "I think you're kinda cute, too!" I glanced over at Rosie, who had her arms folded, rolling her eyes. Trina looked over at Rosie, too, and said, "But I think I should really get back to, um-"

"Yeah. Of course!" I added on. On that note, Trina continued to tend to my injuries. "Thanks again for, ya know, doin' this for me."

"Oh, no problem!" Trina said, wrapping my ankle up in gauze. "No, problem, at, all." She stressed every word like it was its own individual sentence.

Once I was taken care of, Trina, Rosie and I all went back out into the woods. It was still pretty early, considering we hadn't really done anything major. Rosie was walking in between me and Trina, and we were taking more of a stroll than a hike.

After all of what had just happened, I forgot what we were really even doing. "So, Rosie," I began. "What exactly should we do?" I saw her face light up with excitement.

"Well, in training they taught us how to search for the best food places!" exclaimed Rosie. "All we have to do is look at the trees marked with-"

"Red dots?" Trina interrupted, leading us to a nearby oak tree. We all saw that it had in fact had a medium sized red dot drawn on it.

"How'd you know?" asked Rosie.

"They taught us that the good food is always inside the trees with red dots!" stated Trina, confidently. "Chris, were you even payin' attention in your training?" I shrugged my shoulders, even though I knew the answer was no.

Honestly, I have no idea _how _I would've survived even the first night without Rosie or Trina! "So what do we do when we find the tree?" Trina quickly asked Rosie. "'Cause I don't think they told us what to do after then."

"I'm guessing, that we have to press the red dot or somethin'." She pushed the dot as if it were a button, but nothing happened. "Maybe we have to get inside the tree or somethin'!"

I saw her pick up a nearby rock and smash it against the red dot, making a giant open hole inside the tree. "Ooh! I was _right!_" chuckled Rosie. She reached out her left arm and surveyed the inside of the hole for food.

"Come on! Come on!" said Trina, impatiently. Rosie looked back at her and gave her a Don't-Rush-Me look, then turned back around, pulling a white paper bag out. It had a big, black 'P' printed on it. The three of us quickly huddled together, waiting to see what was inside the bag.

Rosie slowly opened the white bag, smiling. "Wait!" Rosie blurted out. Her smile faded away. "Are these…biscuits?" She pulled a single biscuit out of the bag and it seemed to be freshly baked.

Trina suddenly said, "Yeah! Don't complain!" Then she snatched the piece of food out of Rosie's hand and started to chew on it. Me and Rosie stared at her eat the biscuit like she hadn't eaten in days.

"No, I mean, someone had to have _just _baked these!" Rosie explained. "They couldn't have been here for more than a couple hours." Trina stopped eating, and looked up at Rosie. I guess we both had realized what she was talking about, because we were both awestruck.

"So…" I said, shifting my eyes from Rosie to Trina, then back to Rosie. "…What are you tryna say?" Rosie put her arm back inside of the tree.

"I think that there's probably a secret compartment in here somewhere," she replied. "But I can't quite…seem…to find…it." She backed out from the tree, smiling.

"I guess not," said Trina, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe we should-" Just then, another bag of food came up inside the tree. "Well, never mind!" Trina grabbed the second bag and laughed.

"I think we should probably get back to the cabin," I offered, heading back in the direction we came. They both began to follow behind me, holding the two bags of food.

Once the three of us were back in the cabin together, I sat on my bed and the girls sat on Trina's bed. "We should probably take one biscuit at a time, so we all have a chance at eating the same amount," Trina suggested. She pulled out a biscuit and handed it to Rosie, who happily ate it, bite by bite.

Then Trina tossed me a biscuit. I stared at it for a while, pondering over the fact that it was steaming and fresh. After a couple seconds, I ripped off a piece and put it in my mouth, eating it piece by piece.

By the time we were finished eating all of the biscuits, it was almost noon. So I suggested that we leave Rosie in the cabin with the food, and go look for some dinner. Of course, Rosie asked, "Why can't I go with y'all?" And since I didn't have a reasonable response, I told her I didn't want her to get hurt, which was partly true.

"It's almost dark, Rosie," Trina told her, as I waited by the door. "If we get caught by a Peacekeeper, I don't want you to get hurt, too!" Rosie still seemed to be resistant. "Don't you understand why you should stay here?"

Rosie sat on the bed with her arms folded. She let out a sigh and said, "Yeah! But I can _help _you guys! I'm a really good fighter! I _did _save Chris from those Peacekeepers last night, didn't I?" Trina rolled her eyes and stood straight up.

"True…" said Trina, still not giving up. "But still, I don't want you to get hurt!" She stopped for a second and then said, "Can you _please _just stay here?" Rosie rolled her eyes, leaning over the bed to grab the bag of food.

"_Fine!_" she pouted. "But…" She reached into the bag. "Don't be mad when I eat all the food." Rosie smiled.

I chuckled and said, "That's okay! We should have a lot more by the time we get back. But _you _should be asleep, so I doubt you'll get any!" I opened the door, letting Trina exit first. "See ya later!"

"See ya later, Rosie!" Trina said, happily and triumphantly.

As I shut the door, I could hear her shout, "Yeah, yeah! Whatever!" We laughed and continued walking.

We could still see the orange sun behind a few trees, but it was still getting dark. We both knew we had to get back to Rosie before the Peacekeepers came out, so we walked at a steady, but quick pace. I frequently looked at Trina, and back at my feet, to make sure I didn't trip.

She giggled, looking up at the sky. I looked at her face, said, "What?" and looked straight forward. I could see her arm come out of her pocket and then I felt it grab mine. I couldn't help but smiling, and holding her hand. It felt soft, and warm.

"Nothing," she told me, still grinning. "It's just…I've never noticed…how…pretty you are." She burst out laughing. I, however, was not very happy that she was mocking me. Trina looked at my stale face and forced herself to stop laughing. "Sorry, sorry. It was…just…so freakin' funny!"

"You think I'm a joke?" I cried. I knew I was being over dramatic, but I didn't care. She hurt my feelings. She began to playfully swing our hands back and forth.

"Chris! You _know _I didn't mean it like that," she said, trying to maintain her smile and positive attitude. I angrily let go of her hand, standing still. She stopped as well.

"Maybe I did…maybe I _didn't_!" I retorted. "But I guess you wouldn't know how I feel because you don't know _me!_" I was obviously letting my hunger and emotions get the best of me, and it made her smile and positive vibe disappear.

"Look, Chris! I don't know what the hell's your problem, but do you _really _have to act like such a-"

"Like, a, _what, _Trina?" I interrupted, flailing my arms around like we were in some sort of soap opera. "Huh? Like, like a _jerk? _A child? _What, _Trina?" Trina stared at me like I was crazy, which was probably right, considering the way I was acting.

"You know what, Chris?" she shouted. "You _are _a jerk! Come get me when you get an attitude adjustment!" On that furious note, she stormed away, leaving me all to my lonesome.

**Trina**

**Night 2**

Meanwhile…I was somewhere off in the woods, thinking about the fight that Chris and I had just had. It wasn't really nighttime, but then again, it _was _dark outside.

I stopped at a tree with a red dot on it, and I guess that I was so upset and hungry that I decided to punch the tree as hard as I could. I barely put a hole in the tree, but my hand was hurting like crazy! Just then, I heard a noise behind me. "Hello?" I asked, hearing only my own voice. Then I thought, _Wait! What am I doing? _I heard a rustling in the trees around me and looked all around, very confused, when all of a sudden a hand grabbed my arm. I closed my eyes and screamed.

Shortly after, another hand held my mouth shut. "Shhhh," said the mysterious person, letting go of me all at once. "I ain't gonna hurt you." A boy, about 17 years old, had walked in front of me. "Sorry about that. I'm Peta." He held out his hand and I met him halfway, staring at him the whole time.

"I'm…Trina." I was totally and completely mesmerized by his curly blonde hair and baby blue eyes. Or maybe it was his muscular physique. Whatever it was, I just couldn't help melting away as we talked.

"I like that name…" he said, smiling. "It's cute. Anyways…me and my partner, Victor, were just running from a bunch of Peacekeepers with guns, when we somehow got separated from each other."

"Oh…" I said, looking up at his blue eyes as he slowly walked closer. "Well, I was just with mine when we had this big argument. I got mad and came here…then I found you!" We stared deeply into each other's eyes, barely breathing. It seemed as though time itself had stopped, just for us.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, I saw a figure off in the distance, running towards us. Peta saw by my worried face that something was wrong. He turned to see what I was looking at and looked back at me.

"It's them!" he whispered. His voice was like a warm blanket wrapping tightly around my body, even in the midst of danger. "Run!"

I followed his directions and we began to run away from the incoming figure. As we ran together, side by side, I could hear feint screaming coming from behind us. I stopped, and saw that the figure stopped. "Wait!" I cried. "I think that's a person! Come on!" I lead him back in the direction of the person. Once we got to them, we could clearly see it was a young boy.

"Victor!" exclaimed Peta. "What happened?" The boy was lying on the ground, with a 5 inch cut in his left leg.

"There were…Peacekeepers…but I…I got away! I just ran and ran…and then I saw you…so I came towards you guys…but you ran away from me." He looked like he was in desperate need for some food and medical attention.

"Oh no!" gasped Peta, brushing his hair with his hand. "I am so sorry! We thought _you _were the Peacekeepers!"

Victor gasped and said, "It's…okay. But-" At that very moment, Victor stopped talking. He fell back and laid there with his eyes wide open. "Victor? Victor!" He kneeled down to his side. All I could do was cover my eyes and cry.

"Is he…" I couldn't bring myself to say the rest. Peta looked up at me and nodded his head. I suddenly burst into tears. I was an emotional wreck! I felt like I was in a war movie and one of my army buddies just died.

We stayed there for a moment, with Peta by Victor's side, and me crying like a baby. We just stayed still, as if the lights were supposed to fade out but the person in charge of lighting wasn't on the set yet.

**Chris**

Back to my sad point of view…I began to walk in the direction Trina had gone, hoping to accidentally run into her somewhere. After a few minutes of walking, I was beginning to worry about her. _What if she's lost? _I thought. _What if she was caught by a Peacekeeper? What if she's…._ Just then, I saw Trina walking off in the distance. She was with someone else. I ran off, smiling because I knew there was hope.

"Trina!" I shouted. "Trina!" She turned and looked at me. Once I got to her, I saw a boy, a little older than us, with curly, blonde hair, blue jeans, and a black leather jacket. "Trina! You do _not _know how much I missed you!" I hugged her, only to have her push me away.

"Oh, _really," _she said, sarcastically. "I've only been gone a few minutes. But anyways, this is Chris. Chris, this is…Peta!" She smiled as his name left her lips.

"Hi!" Peta said, putting his hand up. He held his hand out towards me, but as usual, I declined. "Well…I really think that we should be headin' back to the cabins."

"Um…yeah!" agreed Trina, smiling up at him. I could definitely tell she was eating out of the palm of his hand. "You're probably right. Let's go." We started to walk back, and when I turned around, Trina and Peta were holding hands! I mean, can you _believe _that? We have _one _fight, and suddenly she's all over this guy!

The whole way back, I watched those two laughing and giggling at squirrels and birds and stupid shit like that! I was so frustrated and jealous that I hadn't even tripped over anything the whole time we were walking.

**Rosie**

Back at the cabin, I was getting really bored. So I decided to have a little fun of my own. I grabbed the pocket knife from my pocket and stood up. I began to carve the letter T into the wall, it wasn't easy, but I was able to do it, anyways.

After the 'T' was complete, I began to carve an uppercase 'R' right beside the 'T'. I was super bored, and when I get bored, I tend to mess up, so the 'R' was a little crooked, but I couldn't erase, so I just kept going. I easily drew a lowercase 'I' but it took forever to draw the dot above it.

I went on to the uppercase 'N' and I could feel my arm getting really tired, so I took a quick break. Being hungry _and _tired, I jumped into Trina's bed, lying on my stomach. That's when I heard my stomach growl. So I sat up, and started looking around the room for something to eat.

The room was totally empty. There was no food, no toys, no anything! All that were in the room with me were the beds, the first-aid kit, and the lamp. So I got out of bed and went back to my artwork. Or maybe it was more of vandalism, but either way, I was finishing it. The knife fit comfortably in the palm of my hand as I slowly carved a big 'A' right next to the 'N'. I moved over to the right a little, then began to draw a shape. I continued to carve letters and symbols into the wall, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

I was kind of scared, so I turned my head around in lightning speed. _Ummm…._ I thought. _What if it's a Peacekeeper? But why the heck would a Peacekeeper knock? _I could feel the sweat beading down my forehead as I readied my weapon, walking closer to the door.

Whoever was at the door, knocked again. I was at least 99% sure that it was a Peacekeeper. But I thought Peacekeepers were supposed to leave you alone when you were in a cabin. I still wanted to be ready, just in case. So I raised my pocket knife, reaching out to open the door.

As I opened the door, I was ready for the worst. But to my surprise, when I opened the door, it was Chris, Trina, and some other guy. As I stood there, they all stared at me like I was crazy or something.

"What?" I asked. They kept staring at me with shocked and frightened expressions. "Oh! This." I realized I was holding the knife towards them all, so I quickly put away my knife and let them all in, but pulling Trina to the side, saying, "Hey, who's _he?"_ I whispered, pointing at the guy dressed up like someone from some old musical.

"Oh, that's Peta," she whispered, glancing back at him, who was talking to Chris at the moment. We both stared at the newcomer for a moment, then exchanged looks.

"He's cute!" I exclaimed, giggling. She laughed with me, still checking him out.

"I know, right!" Trina agreed. "But you can't have him! He's _mine!_" We both laughed, then returned to the boys, as though nothing was said.

"Wait," said Peta. "Where am I gonna stay? 'Cause I can't stay in my cabin alone. I just _can't!" _I saw a spark in Trina's eye as he said that. While Chris folded his arms, rolling his eyes, Trina made her way closer to Peta.

"You can stay here!" Trina blurted out. Then Chris barged in between Trina and Peta, looking more upset than ever.

"Hell no!" he exclaimed. "Rosie's already sleeping here! This isn't a hotel!" I could see the tension between Trina and Chris, and I was only 11.

"Excuse me?" Trina said. "Last time I checked, taking care of _one _child is _not _a hotel! There's still room for one more person. Don't be a jerk, Chris!" Chris was about to explode and I didn't wanna be there to witness it, but I had no choice.

"Oh, so I'm a jerk for caring about people?" Chris argued. "I'm a jerk for wanting to protect you and Rosie? I'm a _jerk_ for not wanting to look after someone who's practically an adult?" The argument spiraled downwards from that point, but I just tuned it out as Peta stood next to me.

"So…" he said, awkwardly. "Does this usually happen between those two?" I looked up at him, with a look of disgust. Something about him just made my stomach sick. Or maybe it was because I was super hungry. Either way, my stomach was growling like a mountain lion on a camping site full of food.

"Not really…" I replied. "But then again, I just met them. I don't know why, though." I saw Peta look at the wall, admiring my artwork. "No! Don't look at that! It's-" He seemed to like it, because he smiled real big. Although, I was really embarrassed.

"It's cute," he told me, admiring it up close. "Did you draw this?" He looked at me and I nodded. He turned back to Trina and Chris, then adverted his attention to the drawing that read 'Trina + Chr'. It wasn't complete, though, of course.

"I was bored, though," I admitted. We both turned our attention back to Trina and Chris. They seemed to be cooling down, so I got into my bed. "I think I'm gonna go to sleep. Tell them I said goodnight!"

"Okay," Peta replied. I wrapped the covers around me, closing my eyes. I slowly drifted into a dream state.

**Chris**

Back to _my _point of view….Trina and I just stopped fighting and I saw that Rosie fell asleep. I basically gave up the fight, because I knew that no one was going to win.

"I'm sorry, Trina," I said. "I guess I just got upset." She sighed and rolled her eyes. I guess we both can be a little stubborn.

"It's okay, I guess," she said to me. "But don't do it again." There was a different side of her that I had never seen before. A fierce, more attractive side to her. I loved this side of Trina, but at the same time, I hated it.

"So he can stay with us," I said, hesitantly. "But he ain't sleepin' with _me!"_ I could see she agreed with me. Trina looked at sleeping Rosie, then around the room, then at Peta.

"I guess I'll sleep with Rosie again. And Peta, you'll have to sleep on the floor." She turned soft and girly as she spoke to him. "Is-is that okay with _you?" _He chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, calmly. "I honestly don't care." They stared at each other and I felt like I was in the middle of a dramatic soap opera.

"Well, I'm goin' to bed!" I blurted, making them look at me again. I slowly got into bed and put the blanker around me. I turned towards the wall, but I could still feel their eyes on me.

"Goodnight, Chris!" said Peta. I pretended like I was asleep, even though I was pretty sure they _knew _I wasn't. I could hear Trina scoff and then soon after I heard mild laughter.

_These are gonna be two long and painful weeks! _I thought, going to turn off the lamp located against the wall in the center of the room.

**Trina**

That night, Peta and I had a very intimate conversation. "So, do you and Chris always fight like this?" said Peta. I looked up at Chris, because I was on the floor.

"Not really," I replied, staring into his sexy blue eyes. "I think this game is gettin' the best of us." The sounds of the night calmed my mind, as the two of us sat up next to each other on the floor.

"What do you mean?" Peta asked me. I couldn't help but open up to him.

"I mean, we've been best friends for like ever!" I explained. "We were friends way before I was…an orphan. The same year that I was put up for adoption, _he _was put in juvenile detention because he kept having tantrums and he almost stabbed a teacher in the arm with a pair of scissors. I guess that when I left, he didn't have someone to control him when he was upset. If I was never put up for adoption in the first place, I don't think that _either _of us would be here." There was a long pause, and I looked at Peta's innocent face.

"Sorry, but I don't really follow," he told me with a smile. I giggled.

"Well, I mean, if my parents never put _me _up for adoption, then _Chris _would've never been sent to juvenile detention. Or at least not at such an early age." We laughed at my little joke. "And we would still be best friends back home, and none of this shit would be happening!" As I said that, I could see Peta's cute smile vanish.

"Oh…." he said. I was confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He looked at me, with sincerity in his eyes.

"I'm _glad _that you're here," said Peta. "If that stuff never happened, I would've _never_ have met you. And I kinda like you, Trina. A lot…." I held my breath as Peta slowly moved closer to me.

"But…." I uttered, closing my eyes. I could feel him just inches away. As his lips touched mine, my mind was spinning out of control with thoughts of love, pain, death, and confusion. The kiss seemed to last forever, but I didn't care. I was in love with him.

When we stopped kissing and his lips were off of mine, I was in a daze. All I could do was stare blankly into his eyes as he smiled at me through the darkness. "I love you, Trina," is what he whispered in my ear. Thoughts were racing in my head as time moved at a very slow pace. _But we just met! _I thought. _I like you and all, but we're moving way too fast! We can't do this, not _here_, not _now_! I don't wanna fall in love and have to lose you! _Suddenly, the thoughts ceased.

"Sorry, but I don't think this is right," I choked. I had no idea what I was saying. "We're movin' way to fast here. And I don't wanna fall in love with you and then find you…dead…somewhere." My heart stopped as the word 'dead' popped off my tongue and out my mouth.

Peta was in complete and utter shock as I said what I said. "Oh, okay, I see," he said, with a frown now. "That's totally understandable….You know what? I think I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Yeah, me too," I said, feeling uneasy. I then went on my side, facing the wall. I was cold, not because I didn't have a blanket, but because of the sequence of events that led to this exact moment. "Goodnight!" I whispered. I waited for a response.

"Night," said Peta, with a hint of guilt in his voice. I kept my eyes open, because I didn't think I could sleep. I couldn't help but think about the day I just had. I thought about the fight I had with Chris this afternoon, meeting up with Peta, seeing Victor die before my very eyes. I also thought about the other fight I had with Chris, and that precious kiss with Peta, making everything else that happened today seem like nothing.

All these thoughts and memories were giving me a migraine, so I forced my eyes to close and tried to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no luck and stayed up half the night, with a tear fall down my cheek every now and then.

**Chris**

**Day 3**

The next morning, I felt completely refreshed. I was still upset about the argument Trina and I had last night, but I wasn't too upset about it. So I got out of bed, stretched and walked towards the door. That's when I realized that Trina was gone! Peta was gone, too. I was worried, so I ran to Rosie and shook her until she woke up.

She looked up at me, still half asleep. "What?" she yawned. I nervously looked at the door then back at Rosie.

"Trina and Peta! They're gone!" I exclaimed. She sat up.

"Ughhh," she groaned. "Stop yellin'." She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, stretching. "They probably just went out to look for some food. Jeez! So dramatic." My nerves calmed down a little, realizing she was probably right.

"Sorry," I said. I was still worried for some strange reason, though. "Come on!" I ran back to the door, and turned around to see Rosie, slowly walking towards me. "Come on! Hurry up!" She was so tired she bumped into the bed and nearly walked into me.

"Don't rush me!" she said. "I'm still tired." I opened the door and we both left, looking around with caution.

"They could be anywhere by now!" I complained, almost giving up already.

Then, Rosie sighed and said, "Yeah. I think they're right there." She pointed straight ahead at two figures a couple yards away. I ran off to them, relieved.

"Chris?" said Peta. "You're awake!" I scoffed.

"No kiddin'!" I retorted. "Where the hell were you guys?"

"Chris!" Trina barked. "What, the hell, is your problem? You were asleep so we didn't wanna wake you. We thought you'd be okay with it, but I guess not!" I stopped before I said anything I would regret.

"Don't mind him," said Rosie. "He woke _me _up just to look for you guys. He obviously _cares _about you, Trina. But you needa stop bitchin' every time he does somethin' stupid!" We were all dumbfounded by the words coming out of her mouth. "I mean, it _was _kinda dumb for you to wake me up for somethin' like this, but you had good intentions, so it's alright…for now! Next time, Ima be forced to hurt you."

There was long silence followed after. "What," added Rosie. "Just 'cause I'm 11 doesn't mean I don't have a brain!" On that note, she turned around and walked back to the cabin.

We all stood there for a minute, quiet. "Is that true, Chris?" Trina asked, holding a white bag of food. I noticed Peta also had a bag of food.

I was a little embarrassed, but I was able to nod my head and say, "Yeah." Trina stood in front of me and stared at me for a moment, then suddenly hugged me. I was very confused, yet very happy. When she let go, she had a huge smile.

"I'm so sorry about the way I've been treating you lately," she said. "It wasn't very Trina-like of me." I felt the need to apologize as well.

"No, I shouldn't have been such a jerk to you," I replied. "I guess I was just a little jealous." She giggled a little and went to Peta's side.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have," she joked. I was about to yell, but then I caught myself, and smiled instead.

"Yeah," I said, with a fake laugh.

"If you two are done," said Peta. "Then I'd like to search for some more food. If it's alright with the two of you." Trina was eyeing him like they had some sort of secret they were hiding from me.

"Okay," agreed Trina. I simply nodded my head, and followed them off into the woods. Hopefully, the third day would be much better than the previous days.

The whole time we were walking, I couldn't help but thinking that Rosie was so smart. She was so intelligent for an 11 year old little girl. I guess I underestimated her.

Also, we saw a few other players hunting during our journey. But we tried to stay away from them so we didn't meet any trouble along the way.

After about maybe a few hours, we were all getting tired. So we decided to head back. The sun was slowly going down, so we knew we only had a limited amount of time to get back to safety.

"I think we're lost," I said, looking around. Everything seemed unfamiliar to me.

Peta commented, "No, we're not. We just keep goin' straight and we'll be at the cabin soon!" I sighed and just continued to walk.

After about half an hour, we were still walking. It seemed as if we weren't getting anywhere near the cabin. "Peta," began Trina. "I think we _are _lost." Peta looked around, and had a look of defeat.

"I think you're right," he said. We all stopped walking. "We _are _lost!" When he said that, Trina just lost it. She started walking in circles around us, sweating and mumbling to herself.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" I could hear her say. "The sun's gonna go down and the Peacekeepers are gonna find us and we are gonna _die! _Rosie's gonna come looking for us and she's gonna get caught, too!" As she continued to ramble on about things, Peta and I began to converse.

"What are we gonna do?" he whispered, glancing over at Trina every time she was behind me.

"How the hell should _I_ know?" I cried. "I thought _you _were a good hunter. I thought you were an expert at this stuff! I thought-"

"What are you talking about?" he interrupted, with a puzzled look upon his face. "I never said _any _of that shit!" I had my foot in my mouth.

"Well, I _assumed…." _I replied. I looked around at the trees, then Trina, then back up at Peta.

"Look!" he snapped. "I don't know why you don't like me, but right now, I couldn't care less either way. All I know is that I want to _survive_! So, if you wanna keep getting upset over every little thing someone says, go ahead. But if you wanna live, we gotta stick together. Got it?" I once again was flabbergasted. He had read me like a book, he knew that I got upset over everything and anything. He knew that I was acting immature. But most of all, he knew that I didn't like him.

"….Yes," I said, firmly.

"Good." He walked over to Trina, who was behind me now, and held her by the shouders. "Snap out of it! We're gonna get through this, Trina!" Trina looked at me for a second, then back at Peta, slowly nodding her head.

We all got together, and listened to our coach tell us the plan. "Okay, first thing we're gonna do is look for anything we can use to protect ourselves." Trina and I exchanged a look of anxiety and nervousness. _"Then, _we're gonna find some more food, in case we have to stay outside tonight. But we have to be careful. Watch out for each other at _all _times, got it?" The two of us nodded, giving him a sign to continue his speech. "And finally, we're gonna keep searching for the cabin." I had a thought.

"But what if one of us…you know, doesn't make it?" Peta looked at me with a look of pride.

"Oh, we're _gonna _make it alive," he replied, confidently. "Now, let's go!" We all continued out stroll, but this time, we watched our surroundings ever so closely. We couldn't take the risk of a sneak attack.

**Rosie**

Back in the cabin, I was starting to worry. I looked out the door, watching the orange sun set in the yellow and red sky. _They're not gonna make it_, I thought. _I just know it! _It wasn't totally dark out yet, so I made up my mind to go look for them. I walked outside, but then went back inside, grabbing a pen and paper.

I began to write something down, and left it on Rosie's bed, turning around to leave the empty cabin behind. I ran, trying harder than ever to be quiet with each footstep. I occasionally yelled out, "Trina! Chris! Peta!" in case they were nearby and I didn't see them.

But I still had to be careful because no one really knew exactly when the Peacemakers came out. I wasn't sure if they came out when the moon was out, or if they came out at sunset. No one even really knows when they leave or where they even go! For all I knew, they could've been in the trees, watching our every movement.

"Trina!" I shouted, standing still. "Chris?" I exclaimed. I could feel the hunger take control, as I kneeled down and closed my eyes. "Peta," I whispered.

I could barely breathe and my head hurt. I opened my eyes one last time, and shouted as loud as I could, "Trina! Chris!" My eyelids slowly closed and I couldn't hear anything.

**Trina**

"Oh my gosh!" I whispered, looking all around. I couldn't move my feet. The guys saw I stopped walking and came back for me.

"What!" said Peta, worriedly.

"What's the matter?" Chris asked, making sure everything was okay. I looked them both in the eyes,

"Did-did you hear that?" I stuttered. They both looked extremely confused and puzzled.

"Hear what?" they said, simultaneously. I couldn't believe they didn't hear that. I heard it loud and clear, as if the voice was right next to me.

"That voice!" I cried. "You didn't hear that?" They exchanged worried looks and shook their heads 'no'. "Oh my gosh! I heard someone calling our names!"

"Wait," said Peta, slowly putting the pieces together. "You don't think-" he stopped mid-sentence.

"You don't think…you don't think that was Rosie, do you?" Chris clarified. My heart was beating insanely fast and I could feel sweat slowly drip down my forehead.

"I do!" I said, turning in the direction of the sound. "She came to look for us! Come on!" They followed by me, and I felt like I was a leader. Like I was the boss and they had to listen to what I said or else they would be fired.

It wasn't long until I found Rosie. She was in a very bad condition. She had scratches, and bruises, and she probably had fainted from hunger and dehydration. I knew she had to be treated immediately, or else she might die. And I _wasn't _going to let that happen, not tonight.

The boys caught up to me and were shocked when they saw Rosie's body lying there on the ground. I kneeled down beside her head, then looked up at Chris and Peta, giving them a sign to help me lift her up. I grabbed her upper body, while Chris and Peta held up her lower half, almost effortlessly. While for me, it felt like I was lifting a 2-ton brick.

**Night 3**

"Shhhh," I said, making sure I didn't bump into anything. "Be careful! And quiet." It didn't take very long for us to find the cabin, and when we did, we quickly retreated inside with the body. I went to turn on the lamp, still holding onto her head and upper body.

"Okay, carefully, place her in my bed." We did as I instructed, and when she was placed in bed, I noticed a little note on my pillow. Being curious, I picked it up and began reading. "Hey! Guys?" They came over to me as I inspected the mysterious letter. "Come check this out. Rosie left a note for us before she went scooted closer to me and began to read the letter in their heads.

It read:

Dear Trina,

If you are reading this, that means that something happened to me while I was out looking for you. Sorry, but I just had to come get you! Please don't be mad at me! Anyways, if I fainted or something, it's probably from not eating or drinking. So if you found my body and I'm still breathing, go and get the first-aid kit! There should be a little bottle of water inside! Good luck!

P.S. Just in case one of you screw up and I die, I hope you always think of me! I love you!

Love,

Rosie McDonald ^_^

As I read the note over and over, I was mad at the fact that she thought this was a joke! But I was filled with grief because I knew she really might not survive.

After reading the note, Peta ran over to the first-aid kit in the corner and set it on the bed. As he opened it, I swear my heart skipped a beat. Inside the kit, there were several items, including a small bottle of water. "Come on! Take it out!" I yelled. I guess Peta didn't see the bottle, so I quickly took it out and read the label on outside of the bottle.

Without thinking, I quickly sat next to Rosie, examining her body. I saw that she was in dire need of water immediately, so I took the bottle and began to wet her mouth and lips with droplets of the water. I was getting more and more nervous by the second, because she wasn't showing any signs of improvement. I looked up at Chris, then at Peta. "What do I do?" I asked. They both hesitated to reply.

"I think she's supposed to wake up in time," said Peta. He then added, "If she lives, that is." My heart dropped and I turned back to Rosie. "But hopefully she does, though!" he said, trying to comfort me. He came behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"It's gonna be alright," Chris said, sincerely.

"Yeah," Peta commented. "Everything's gonna turn out fine, Trina." I saw a tear fall from my cheek and onto Rosie's lips. I couldn't help but crying. Rosie was like the daughter I never had. She was special. No one and nothing could _ever _replace her. I don't know what I'd do if Rosie died. At least, not then, not there. I wanted her to live, I wanted her to grow up and get married. She had a full life ahead of her and I wanted her to live it. I _needed _her to live.

"I hope you're right," I whispered, reaching out my hand to touch her cheek. I felt her right cheek with the back of my hand, playing with her hair with my other hand. I couldn't believe that she could possibly die. I couldn't accept the fact that she could be slowly dying right in front of my eyes.

Just then, when all hope was gone, I remembered the two bags of food that Peta and I had found earlier. I ran over to the corner of the room where the bags were at and swiftly picked one up. I closed my eyes, looked up, and uttered a prayer.

Opening my eyes, I got ready to open the bag. Peta and Chris scurried over to me to see what I was doing, and I closed my eyes again, quickly opening the bag, hoping for the best. As I opened my eyes to see what was in the bag, I let out a sigh of disappointment. I looked up at the ceiling, wanting to just give up. "Why?" I cried. I threw the bag across the room and got the next bag just as fast as before. "Please! Please, please, please…let there be what I need!" Once again I closed my eyes, and uttered a prayer just like last time.

Slowly, I opened the bag, holding my breath. "Wait!" Chris exclaimed. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes.

"What?" I managed to spit out despite choking on my tears. He looked as though he was sad, too, but he was handling with his emotions a lot better than I ever could.

"I think there's a well outside," Chris informed. "Out in the back. Behind the house." My eyes lit up and I had a huge smile.

"Well, what hell are we doing here!" I said. "Let's go! Fast!" Before I could turn towards the door, Peta joined in.

"But it's way too dark out," he warned. "There's gotta be Peacekeepers! And besides: We can't just leave her alone by herself!" I was too hype to care about anything besides Rosie at the moment, so I moved to my bed, quickly putting an empty bottle of water into my pocket. I then ran to the door, turning to Peta.

"Then you stay here and watch Rosie!" I commanded. "Don't let her get too hot or too cold! And give her some more of that water. We'll be right back!" I could see the confusion in Chris' eyes.

"_We?"_ he repeated.

"Yeah!" I barked. "You didn't think I was gonna go by _myself, _did you?" He followed me out the door, and it was pitch black. We could barely see the trees around us, so we had to be extra careful not to let anyone or anything see _us._

I lead Chris to the corner of the cabin, making sure to survey our surroundings. I saw a little light shining around the side of the cabin, and quickly, but quietly ran to it. Sure enough, there was a well, just as Chris said.

"Okay," I whispered, looking at the well as if it were a pile of gold. "Be quiet. I'll pull the rope and you fill the bottle up with water when the bucket comes up." Chris nodded his head and crept in front of me. I handed him the bottle and he waited by the well.

Once I got over to the lever, I began to turn it as fast as I could, but it _had _to have been 100 pounds. Chris looked around, cautiously, waiting for me to do my share of the job. "Come on!" he whispered. "Hurry up!" I tried even harder, and I could feel that the bucket was halfway up the well.

"I'm _trying!_" I said, straining every muscle in my body to pull the rope. "This thing is…too heavy!" The bucket was probably a few feet away from the top, when a hand fell upon my shoulder. I didn't know what to do, and I was too scared to say anything, so I dropped the rope and screamed. Just as I started screaming, another hand was over my mouth.

Chris looked at me and said, "Calm down. It's not a peacekeeper." As they let me go, I slowly turned my head to see a tall boy, who looked about 17 years old. He had a big, black mohawk with blue jeans and a biker's jacket. I was shaking with fear.

"Don't be afraid, mate!" he said with a very clear Australian accent. "I'm not gonna hurt you…." He had a devilish grin upon his face.

"Who-who are you?" I stuttered. He chuckled for some strange reason.

"The name's Jared," he replied. "And yours, mate?" I stared up at him like a dying puppy.

"My name-my name's…Trina," I whispered. "Do you think you could help me with this?" I moved to the side so he could see the rope on the ground. Jared winked at me and grabbed the rope.

"Sure thing, mate!" he said. He then effortlessly pulled the bucket up in less than 30 seconds. I was completely shocked, yet still scared.

"Thank you!" I told him as Chris did his share of the plan. Jared looked around as though it were 5 o'clock in the morning.

"No problem…mate!" said Jared, staring at me. It was like he was planning something that I didn't know about, the way he kept look around. "If you need me, I'll be 2 cabins down." Just then, 3 other teenagers appeared from out of the darkness. "Oh yeah! And this is my crew. That's Trenton over there." He pointed at a boy, about 17 years old as well, who was wearing a pair of designer shades and black skinny jeans.

"Wassup, girl!" he said, smiling. He looked like a celebrity from the year 2012 or something. But that wasn't really a compliment.

"That's Bonnie over there!" Jared said, his thick Australian accent was really starting to piss me off. He pointed over at a girl who looked 18 years old. She had a cute black ponytail, with bleached highlights. I also noticed she was chewing gum and was dressed like some chick from New Jersey.

"I like your hair!" Bonnie said, grinning from ear to ear while chewing the gum viciously. I began to nervously play with the tips of my brown hair. "It's cute."

"Thanks," I said, looking at the next boy. He looked around 18 years old, too. He was wearing a white t-shirt with blue jeans. His hair was a mixture of blonde and black, and it was a little too long for a boy if you ask me.

"And that's Clyde!" Jared said, ending his tour. "He doesn't really-"

I unintentionally, but very rudely, cut him off, saying, "Look, we really have to be somewhere! So if you don't mind, we'll just-" I stared at his now upset face. "I guess we'll just be going then…see ya around!" As we walked away, I felt 8 angry eyes staring at me.

When we turned around the corner, I heard Jared call my name. I stopped and turned to see the gang slowly walking towards us. I was very scared at this point, but I didn't know what to do. "What do you want?" I whined. Jared's evil smile appeared.

"You, girl!" exclaimed Trenton. Jared pushed him behind him, walking closer to me. I felt very, very uncomfortable around him.

"Pardon my friend," Jared said, in a soothing voice. "He sometimes forgets that _I'm _in charge. But besides that, I want you." The moment he finished that sentence, Chris jumped in from of me and was in self-defense mode.

"Leave her alone!" Chris barked. I heard Jared and his crew snicker. "What? What the hell is so damn funny?" I could now see that Chris was like a helpless little cat, being strangled by his owner.

"Oh, nothing," said Jared. "It's just…I can't believe you actually thought I'd listen to someone like you!" That seemed to be hilarious because the four of them suddenly laughed out loud. Chris, on the other hand, was trembling.

"It's okay, Chris," I assured. "Don't stoop down to _their _level." That made Jared suddenly stop laughing. I saw fury in his eyes. "Come on. Let's go." I walked away before Chris and I said or did anything we'd regret. This time, we were not followed.

Once we were safely backed indoors, I took the water bottle and sat next to Rosie's body on the bed. "What took you-"

"We ran into these punks outside," I replied quickly. I then applied some water to Rosie's dry lips. Drop by drop, I could see the live glow return to her once smiling face. I knew that the water was helping, but I also knew that it wasn't enough. But it was all we could do. It was all _I _could do.

"Please…" I whispered to myself. Chris was standing to my right and Peta to my left. I could almost feel the amount of guilt and remorse in the air. It was so thick that I could hardly breathe. I didn't think I could live without Rosie. Rosie was my daughter….

As I turned to Chris, I saw that he had a tear falling down his face. "Chris?" I cried. He seemed to be embarrassed that I saw him cry.

"Yeah! I'm cryin'!" he barked at me. "So what? I loved Rosie just as much as you did! Maybe even more. If she dies, I don't know what I'll do! I've been mean to her ever since I met her, I don't wanna lose her, knowing that I was mean to her while she was alive! I don't wanna lose her at all!" I looked deep into his brown eyes, silenced by what he just said, and then without warning, I wrapped my arms around his neck, looking at the wall behind him.

He patted my head, and leaned his own head on mine. "Everything's gonna be alright," he assured me. "It just has to be…." I closed my eyes, giving in to his control.

"I hope so, Chris," is all I could say. "I really hope so…." Everything after that was pretty much a big blur.

**Day 4**

That very next day, my head was throbbing so much. I had tear stains across my cheek and I felt horrible, like I had a huge hangover the night before. Also, I was filled with so much grief and sorrow that I didn't even feel like getting out of bed, which Rosie and I had shared. But I somehow managed to pull myself out of bed, making sure not to fall onto the floor. As I stood up, I realized that I was alone in the cabin. I didn't know whether I should be relieved or devastated. So I chose relieved, with a dash of faith and hopefulness, and ran outside to see my daughter.

When I saw her playing and jumping around with Chris and Peta, I was ecstatic. I ran straight up to her, tightly wrapping her in my arms. "Trina!" she laughed.

"Rosie! Oh my gosh!" I yelled, crying tears of pure joy. I couldn't help but to smile at her when we stopped hugging. "I can't believe your alive! I don't know _what _I'd do if you died!" I just absolutely loved her smiling face. It was like I hadn't seen her in _years, _and then she suddenly came back to visit me for no apparent reason.

"Chris said you were cryin'," she said. That made me laugh. "Did you?" She looked up at me with eyes of love. I looked over at Chris, who was busy looking for some food or something. Then I looked at Peta who was also busy looking for something.

"Uhh…yeah," I said, my hair now blowing in the wind. It was kind of irritating, the sun in my eyes and my hair in my face. But I honestly didn't care, as long as I had my little rose back.

**Chris **

Later on in the day, Trina and Peta were off searching for food somewhere, while I was stuck with Rosie back at the cabin. I was glad she was still alive, but she was still a pain in my ass!

"Hey, Chris!" said Rosie, jumping on the bed. "Watch this!" She jumped up and down for a while, then a did front flip onto the other bed. I stood against the wall, watching over her.

"Cool," I said, boringly. "Trina told me to make sure you get enough water and food, so you wanna go get something to eat or drink?" Rosie hopped off the bed and landed perfectly on her feet.

"Ummm…" she said. "Yeah!" On that note, I lead her to the outside of the cabin. "It feels so good out today!" she said, twirling in circles like a ballerina. "Don't ya think?"

I didn't hear her at first, so I said, "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Whatever." She looked at me as though as I was ill.

"Cheer up, Chris!" she said. "It's a wonderful day today! Be _happy!"_ I rolled my eyes, folding my arms.

I stood against a skinny tree, and said, "What's so great about it? We're in a war for peace! And no one really cares if we die! They only care who lives and they only care because it's like a sport to them! How the hell am I supposed to be happy knowing that I live in a world like this? Huh? Tell me that!" I stared into the emptiness of her eyes. Realizing what I just said, I added, "Wait! No, sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" She turned around, now saddened by my bad choice of words.

"I know you didn't," she said. "But you're still right. They _don't _care who dies. And it's terrible how the world works, but I guess you gotta live with it…." With that said, she turned her back towards me and let out a big sigh.

When I realized what I had just said, I quickly added, "Wait, no! That's not what I meant. I mean, I _did _mean it, but not like that. What I really meant was…you can make a great day out of…anything…or _something _like that! I don't know why I said that, Rosie! Just forget what I said, okay?" I kneeled down to her level, as she slowly turned around. "Rosie…." She looked at me with pure innocence in her eyes. "What I meant was…that the world is a horrible, horrible place. Full of criminals and bums. But that _doesn't _mean that we can't see the good side of things!" She looked at me with a frown.

"_Yes, _it does, Chris. I was put up for adoption because my parents were poor. And now I'm stuck in these stupid games! _Where _in that story do you see a happy ending? Huh?" There were now tears falling down her face like raging waterfalls.

"But-but-" She walked over to a tree, and cried to herself. "Rosie! Don't-don't talk like that!" There was no use, I had already contaminated the good seed in her. Now she was a rotten apple.

_Why is it always me to mess things up? _I thought, staring at the tree Rosie retreated to. _Why do I have to be such a jackass all the time? Why couldn't I have never been born? Why? Why me? Why Rosie? _With those thoughts in my head and the tears blurring my vision, I turned away from the depressed Rosie.

Just as I turned away, I saw Jared a few yards away. I was frightened, so I ran up to Rosie, and whispered, "We have to go!" She was confused.

"But what-" Before she could finish, I took her arm and pulled her in the opposite direction of Jared. I hopped as fast as I could, hoping Jared wouldn't hear me. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Shhh!" I warned. She didn't know what was happening, but she didn't really seem to mind.

I tried to dodge a tree, but instead I tripped over its roots, letting go of Rosie's arm. "Chris, are you okay?" she exclaimed. I sighed, knowing that Jared probably heard us at this point.

Next thing I know, a pair of red converses from back in 2012 where staring me in the eye. I looked up to see Jared's smiling, yet creepy face. Once I got to my feet, I was about ready for anything.

"What do _you _want?" I asked, folding my arms, trying as hard as possible to look tough.

He scoffed and said, "Enough with the tough guy act, mate. I know you're just a little punk who's afraid of his own shadow." I took a little offense to that because when I was little, I really _was _afraid of my own shadow. "So just cut the crap and move the hell outta my way!"

"But we were kinda here…first. So-"

"Shut up," he interrupted me, rolling his eyes. I looked over at Rosie to see that she was watching our conversation and looked very scared. "I know you're scared of me. Okay? So just cut the act! You're makin' me mad as a cut snake!" He turned to Rosie, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh my…who is this fine young sheila?" He looked her up and down, while Rosie just stared at him like an idiot.

"Rosie," she said, confidently, yet still a little unsure. "Who are you and how do you know Chris?" He looked up at the sky and then back at Rosie, laughing.

"Wow! Um…how old are you, mate? Like five? Six? Maybe…seven?" I was really getting pissed off. For some one that I barely knew, he really knew how to push my buttons.

"I'm 11, thank you very much!" Rosie barked. "And I don't appreciate-"

"Look, Rosie," I said, getting in front of her and turning towards her. "I'll handle this," I said, then turning back to Jared, acting as Rosie's wooden shield. "Okay, Jared. I'm gonna ask you to nicely leave us alone…or else." He stopped smiling and put on his serious face.

"Or, else, what? Are you gonna pinch me or somethin'?" he joked, getting at least an inch away from my face. I felt my left eye twitch as he tried my patience.

"Or else I'll be forced to hurt you," I replied, trying to act brave. Although he could probably see right through my tough guy act.

"Wait! I don't think I quite heard that, mate. Do you mind repeating that?" He coned his ears as though he really couldn't hear what I said. Before I could even open my mouth, Rosie chimed in.

"He said shut up and leave us alone or he'll have to hurt you!" Rosie blurted. We exchanged disagreeing glances. I gave her a 'Why-The-Hell-Would-You-Say-That' look, while she gave me her 'I-Got-This' look.

"Oh, I see…" he said, pretending to be thinking. Or maybe he really was thinking. Honestly, I didn't care _what _did, as long as he did it away from me. "So…what you're sayin' is…that if I don't leave _you _alone…that _you're_ gonna hurt _me._" I saw Rosie nod her head. "Is that so?" Then, without any signs or warnings, he pushed to me just hard enough for me to fall back into Rosie's arms. "So if I were to keep doing…this…then you'd hurt me?" As I got to my feet, he pushed me onto the hard ground. Before I could do anything, he kicked me in my ribs. But not too soon after, I saw Jared fall to the ground. He groaned and moaned in pain, and when I stood up, I had saw a huge cut in his leg.

"Did you-" I saw the pocket knife in her hand and said, "Come on! Before he comes after us!" We both made a run for it and just kept running. We didn't seem to mind that it would be a while until he got up off of the ground, or that we didn't know where we were going. We just had to get away from Jared, and as quickly as possible.

**Trina**

I held onto Peta's hand as tight as I could, smiling so hard that my face was about to freeze. "Trina, can I ask you a serious question?" I looked up at him, still smiling. He was up in a branch, and I was holding his hand to help him keep his balance.

"Sure," I anxiously said. "Anything!" Then I realized how desperate I sounded, and calmly said, "I mean, sure…anything." He chuckled and jumped from the branch onto the ground beside me.

"Well…" he began, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Who do you like better: me or Chris?" My smile immediately vanished and I looked at him like he was dead.

"What-what do you mean?" I stuttered.

He sighed and said, "Who do you like better? Me or Chris? I meant as a boyfriend…." I really wanted to blurt out that it was him, but I didn't wanna seem too eager.

"Uhhh…" I said, thinking. "I've known Chris a little longer than you…_but_…I do believe in love at first sight. But then again…Chris is so funny and cute. But _you _on the other hand…you're nice, strong, handsome, and cute. And a little funny. It's a really hard decision to make, but if I absolutely had to choose, I guess I'd have to say…" I waited a long time to choose my answer, but by the time I was ready to say it, I saw Chris and Rosie running in the woods. "Is that…Chris?" Peta seemed upset that I hadn't answered his question, but he looked at Chris and Rosie, too.

"Yeah, I think it is!" he exclaimed. "Hey! Chris! Rosie!" When they heard him, they came running in our direction.

"What happened?" I asked when they stopped in front of us. "Are you okay?" I checked to make sure they didn't have any bruises or injuries or anything. With both of them sweating and panting, I thought they had just ran away from a crime scene or something.

"Jared!" Chris breathed. "He came!" I was worried now.

"What?" I asked, so very confused now. I could see by the look on Peta's face, that he was also puzzled.

"Jared! He wouldn't leave us alone!" said Rosie. "And he pushed Chris down! So I stabbed him!" My mouth dropped as the word 'stabbed' crawled into my ears.

"You _stabbed _him?" I exclaimed. They looked around nervously. "Why the hell would you do _that?" _I could see by their breathlessness and sweating that they had really regretted Rosie's actions.

"'Cause! He was bein' mean to Chris," Rosie answered. I didn't agree with her method of defense, but I just let it go and decided to get away from any more drama.

"Look, I don't like what you did," I lectured. "But it's too late now. It's over, said, and done. So let's get to the cabin with our food before they see you!" With that being said, we all took the 3 bags of food that Peta and I had found from before, and started running towards the cabin. Or at least where we _thought _the cabin was.

The four of us ran like we had stole something, dodging trees and hopping over logs. I saw that Peta was barely keeping up with us, but I couldn't risk slowing down to help him, even if we weren't really sure that we were being chased.

**Night 4**

Once we all got to the cabin safe and sound, we made sure to lock the door so that there was no way that Jared could get in. The four of us all sat on a bed, shaking and sweating like crazy. I sat next to Peta, while Rosie was in Chris' bed. "I…I think we're safe in here," I stated, trying to catch my breath.

"Yeah, I think so," agreed Chris. "But he was really mad!" Rosie started to look scared.

"Yeah! What if he tries to kill us?" Rosie cried, standing up. I agreed with her, but I didn't want to admit it.

"He's not going to-" Just then, there was a noise that made all of us stop. None of us dared move, let alone make a sound. "Oh my gosh!" I whispered, staying totally still. "What was that?"

Chris and Peta looked even more afraid than me, but the only thing that worried me was that _Rosie _looked frightened. Of all people, I would expect her to just brush it off.

"See? He came to kill us!" Rosie cried, tears were beginning to fall down her face. My heart was now racing.

"Shhhh," I whispered at her.

"Open up! I _know _you're there!" said a very, familiar voice. No one moved a muscle. Rosie looked at me for comfort, but I just shook my head and gestured for her to be quiet. "I ain't gonna hurt you! It's Bonnie! Remember me?" That's when I realized what was happening: **Jared and his crew were after Chris and Rosie.**

I had slowly and carefully devised a plan of caution in my head, and then I quietly got up and motioned for Chris and Rosie to go under the bed. They did as instructed, but in the process, Rosie bumped her head and squealed, "Ouch!" I hoped and prayed that Bonnie didn't hear, then casually walked to the door.

I was still very scared and nervous, but I put on my fakest, but most believable smile, and opened the door. I saw Bonnie standing alone and some of my shakiness instantly went away.

"Hey-"

"Shut up," she interrupted, abruptly pushing me aside so she could get in. "I know they're here. I heard voices!" I was now very intense and nervous again.

"Umm, no. That was just me. Me and Peta." I pointed over at Peta, who was sitting on my bed, although Bonnie payed no attention to me. She kept looking around the room as if she were a police woman. "What are you lookin'-"

"Look!" Bonnie barked, coming within an inch from my face Jared did. "I _know _they're here somewhere! So just shut up and let me do what I gotta do. Or else I'll do something I regret." With that being said, she continued to search the almost empty cabin room. "Wait!" she suddenly shouted. "Wait, wait, wait a second!" She kneeled down beside the bed and I couldn't deny what was going to happen next, so I, without any warning, ran up to her and jumped on her back. She screamed and cried for help, while hitting and scratching at me.

I was now totally and completely scared out of my mind, but I had to finish what I started. Before I knew what was happening, I was thrown off of her and was looking up at Bonnie's angry face. "Oh, you asked for it!" She pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I screamed and closed my eyes, waiting for the explosion.

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. A sudden thud caused me to open my eyes. Rosie was standing over me like a guardian angel. I looked over to my right to see Bonnie, laying on her back with both eyes closed. I screamed and got up, still screaming.

"Calm down, Trina!" said Rosie, making me get quiet. "She isn't dead. She's just…unconscious." I stared at the once menacing body, and was speechless.

"Oh…" I said, still a little shaky. "What do we do with her?" The four of us exchanged devious glances.

**Chris**

We decided not to dispose of her, due to the fact that she wasn't even dead, because if we _had _disposed of her body somewhere, then she'd probably be killed by a Peacekeeper, so we'd technically be killing another human being.

We carefully placed her sleeping body in front of the doorstep of Jared's cabin like a newborn baby, and quickly ran back to our own cabin. We couldn't help but laughing at the situation that we just experienced. It was about to get dark and we felt like we had enough food for the night, so we decided to just talk and have fun before tomorrow came.

"Wait," said Peta, seriously. "What happens if she tells that Jared guy about what happened? Won't he be _really_ upset and try to come after us again?"

"I doubt _that!" _I laughed. Rosie looked as if she wasn't paying attention, while Peta and Trina, who were sitting on Trina's bed, were paying very close attention to what I was saying. "We took out Bonnie when she had a gun…and dumped her unconscious body at his cabin. I _really _doubt that they're gonna mess with us again, now that we have her gun." I took the small and heavy pistol from my pocket, grinning.

"Put that away, Chris!" Trina cried, jumping out of her bed to grab the gun out my hand. She then ran over to the first-aid kit in the corner, and placed it inside, making sure to put it under her bed. After all that, she stood within a few inches from my face. "You can't just say things like that out loud, Chris," she whispered, with a serious look in her eyes. "Anyone could be listening to us…at _any _time!" She just stared into my eyes for a moment, then back up, causing everyone in the room to hold their breath.

I let out a sigh, and said, "I guess you're right." She folded her arms, while giving me a stern look.

"Damn right I'm right!" she said, now at her regular volume. I opened my mouth to argue, but she suddenly let out a big yawn, telling me that it was probably a good idea for us to go to sleep. "You know what? I'm too tired to argue right now, so I think I'm just gonna go to bed." She walked to the opposite side of where Peta sat on the bed, and laid comfortably inside of it. After a few seconds of silence, Peta stood up.

"Ummm…" he said, nervously. "You're not gonna let me sleep with you?" Trina turned over to him with her eyes open. She had a devilish grin on her face and was taking the whole blanket.

"Hell no," she said, closing her eyes and turning back around. "No offense to _you, _Peta. It's just that I don't wanna share tonight." On that note, Peta turned off the lamp light and got on the floor.

"Goodnight, Peta!" said Trina, still lying down.

"Goodnight," Peta mumbled, angrily. Trina giggled at him and Rosie decided to position herself into bed as well. Usually, I'd be mad that Rosie was in sleeping in my bed, but tonight, I didn't really care as much because I was too busy thinking again.

Later on that night, I just couldn't fall asleep because of all the negative thoughts stuck in my brain. I constantly thought about Trina and Peta, and Jared and his friends. I also wondered how Bonnie even acquired a gun in the first place. _What if they _all _have guns? _I asked myself. _What if they have a plan to kill us? And we're just not smart enough to realize it yet. _I quickly changed the direction on my train of thought to something a little less scary. _What if Trina really _does _like Peta more than me? What if she thinks I'm dumb and annoying? What if…_ I stopped all thoughts at that moment and decided to sit up.

I looked around in the darkness to see if anyone else was awake. To my surprise, Rosie sat up as well. "Chris?" she said. I assumed that she couldn't see me in the dark.

"What?" I said, calmly.

She quickly replied with, "I can't go back to sleep!" I felt sorry for her, so I decided to investigate some more.

"Why not?" I asked, still looking at her in the dark, or at least I _think _I was looking at her. I couldn't really tell in the darkness. She changed her position so that she sitting with her legs folded towards me.

"I had a nightmare!" she cried. She actually sounded like an 11 year old little girl then. I changed my whole idea of who Rosie was from that moment on.

"Awww," I whispered. "Well, what happened in your dream?" I was expecting her to say that a monster was chasing her or something to that effect, but what she _did _tell me was even more touching and frightening.

"I had a dream that I was running," she began. "But I didn't know what I was running from! I just know I was running, and when I looked around, there was nothing around me except for darkness. I was really scared, so I just kept running forward. But then something inside me made me stop. No one else was around, and I wanted to break down and cry. But then…there was this white light, and it was really, really bright, but I stared directly into it with no problem. As I walked inside, I saw a hand come out and I quickly stopped walking. I heard my biological mother crying just like when she had put me up for adoption. I didn't know what was happening, until I saw my mom come out of the light. She smiled at me, and held her hand out towards me. I wanted to go, but then I heard you and Trina yelling my name. I had no idea where you were, but all I wanted was to get back to you guys! Then I saw my dad come from out of the light, and he held both arms out to me, saying, 'Rosie! Come…be with us…forever…." I stared deeply into where Rosie's voice was coming from, listening to every detail of her story. I held my breathe as I saw her shadow's arm wipe its face, probably because of tears. "And then…and then…I went into the light and woke up!" I heard her softly crying.

"I-I…I don't know what to say, Rosie," is all I could manage to say to her. I was about to cry myself, when I felt her arms wrap tightly around my waist. "Everything's gonna be okay…everything's gonna be…okay…." She didn't seem to want to let go, but I didn't care, as long as she was okay.

"I love you, Chris!" she said into my chest. "And Trina. I love all of you!" I felt a tear slide down my cheek and it fell on my hand as I held onto her body.

"I love you, too," I whispered. The night seemed to last forever, but we both eventually fell asleep. Although, my head was now stuck on the dream Rosie had. I kept wondering what it meant and was it important. I guess I'd never be able to answer that question.

**Peta**

**Day 5**

I woke up stiff from sleeping on the floor, and when I looked around, everyone was gone. I got to my feet, stretching for a second, and then saw that Rosie was still with me. Although, she was still asleep.

Being that everyone else was gone, I assumed that I had slept through the morning and it was now noon. So I just decided to get back on the floor, and lie on my back, staring at the empty ceiling.

I did this for about a few seconds when I suddenly realized that there was an awkward silence that wasn't there a moment ago. I sat up and saw that Rosie was gone! My heart stopped as I stood up, looking frantically around the room. "Rosie!" I cried. No answer. "Rosie! Where are you?" I didn't think she would answer if she was gone, but what else could I do in a situation like this?

_Maybe she's hiding!_ I thought, running to Chris' bed and instantly getting to my knees to search. I moved my arm around for a little bit, then slowly got back to my feet. That's when I heard hushed giggling come from under Trina's bed. My brain lit up as I knew what was happening.

I slowly walked to the middle of the room, and smiled. "Oh my," I said, overdramatically and extra loud. "I wonder where Rosie can be!" I made my way to Trina's bed and stuck my hand underneath. "Hmmm…I wonder where Rosie is! Maybe she-" I let out a loud yelp as I felt a set of teeth bite my right index finger. "Ouch!" I cried out, pulling my arm from under the bed. "What the hell?" I shouted at the bed.

Then, Rosie crawled out from underneath the bed, giggling. "Sorry," she said, standing up.

"How did you even get to this side of the room?" I demanded, rubbing my finger. She sat on Trina's bed, crossing her legs and smiling.

"I'm sneaky like that, yo!" she laughed. When she saw that my face did _not _have a smile, she slowly stopped her laughing. "Anyways…Trina and Chris woke me up earlier. They said somethin' about goin' to get food. And they also said they didn't wanna wake you up, so they just left. But…Trina didn't really wanna go with him, but I guess 'cause you were asleep, she had no choice." I stared at her for a moment, then sat next to her.

"Well…" I began. "I guess that means we gotta stay here for today." I let out a fake chuckle, but stopped when I saw her face turn serious. "Okay…what do you wanna do today?"

She put her finger on her cheek, repeatedly tapping it as she thought. I saw that she had the most peculiar thinking face: Her lips were scrunched up and switching back and forth to each side of her face, while her eyes were squinted and she looked past me.

"Ummm…" she finally said, still with her thinking face on. "How about…" I was eager to hear her answer, but I didn't want to seem rude or impatient. "Hide-n-Seek!" she suddenly exclaimed, smiling big.

"Aren't you a little too old to be playing that game?" I asked, ever so politely. She crossed her arms, giving me a look of anger. I could easily tell that she was slightly insulted by my innocent question.

"Uhh, _no!_" she quickly retorted, folding her arms.

"My apologies, my apologies!" I then added, making sure to not upset her. "What I meant was…'Aren't you a little too…" I had to think of a better word to use besides 'old'. "…_mature…_for a game like that?'!" She unfolded her arms and stood up, taking me to the door.

"Nice save," Rosie mumbled, opening the door, letting me go first. I smiled as I waited for her to come out as well. When we were both settled outside, she put her hands on her waste, and said, "Okay…go over there-" she pointed a giant oak tree "-and count to 20!" I went to the tree and stared at Rosie.

"Wait-what?" I shouted to her. She jogged over to me, groaning.

"Turn around and close your eyes," she instructed. I did as told and waited for more instructions. "Now count to 20-slowly-and then come get me. Got it?"

I nodded my head, and listened as her footsteps slowly got softer and more distant in time.

"One…" I began, feeling a little silly. "Two…" If Chris were here, he'd be too proud to do this. He has way too much pride and ignorance to do simple things like this. "Three…four…" He was really pessimistic sometimes, and it got on my nerves at times. But I made sure not to show my true feelings. "Five…six…seven…" I quickly shook my head of those negative thoughts, and changed the subject to Trina. "Eight…nine…ten…" I thought about her perfect green eyes, and her perfect body and hair. "Eleven…" I thought about how flawless she was, even with all her insecurities. "Twelve…thirteen…" And then I began to think of how Trina had reacted to my kiss the other night. I know she hated it, I just know! "Fourteen…" I mean, that look she gave me, and the way she treated me afterwards…I just don't get it! I thought she _liked _me! "Fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…" I quickly came to the realization that if we didn't make it out alive, then I would never be able to see my little sister again! "Eighteen…" I would never see her grow up and be the beautiful, independent woman she was turning into when she was adopted last fall.

I shook all those annoying thoughts from my subconscious, and focused all my attention on the present. "Nineteen…" Then I let out a big sigh, letting all of my stress come out with it. "Twenty!" I shouted, turning around. Carefully, I surveyed the area, making sure I didn't miss any obvious hiding places.

**Rosie**

I sat down, in between the corner of the branch. The part where the branch comes out of the tree.

As I sat there, hiding, I heard a noise. Being self-aware of my surroundings, I quietly looked down to see two people. Without thinking, I gasped, causing them both to look up at me.

"Rosie?" said Trina. "Is that you?" I was pretty sure that I was blushing then.

"Yeah," I whispered, looking around. "But be quiet! I'm…I'm hiding…" Trina and Chris looked at me like I was crazy.

"Hidin' from who?" she demanded. I giggled for a moment, then replied.

"Peta." She was still confused. "Hide-n-Seek! Duh!" Her hands were on her waist now.

"Why in the world are you-"

"Hush!" I shouted in a whisper. "Peta ain't as dumb as I give him credit for." I laughed a little.

"Come down from there!" warned Trina, as sternly as possible, although I was totally and completely unaffected by her words.

"Ummm, no!" I barked, laughing again. I could tell that I was making her mad, but I didn't really care.

She knew she wasn't going to win, so she just swallowed her pride and put her hands on her hips. "Ughh!" she groaned. "Fine! But be back at the cabin by sunset!" I giggled and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am!" I said, sarcastically, watching them walk away. "Bye!" They didn't reply, of course.

After about 15 minutes, my legs were falling asleep. Well, I wasn't really sure _how _long I was up in that tree, because time seems to go super slow when you're not doing anything.

Suddenly, a little bird flew a couple inches away from my body. I just stared while it searched for food. Although, I didn't think it would find anything useful up here. "Hey, little guy!" I whispered to the blue jay, calmly. "Whatcha doin'?" I smiled as it came a little bit closer to me.

"Awww…" I said to myself. "Are you lookin' for some food, little guy?" It looked up at me as if it understood what I was saying. "I bet you are!" Quickly, but carefully, I pulled out a sunflower seed from my pocket. I wasn't really sure if birds eat sunflower seeds, but it was worth a try.

Slowly, I reached out my hand to feed the little bird, but before my arm was fully stretched out, the bird jumped up and snatched the seed out of my hand. "Hey!" I cried, watching it rudely eat the seed. "You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?" I sat there with a smile again, thinking of something to call him or her. "Hmm…" I thought. "What should I call you?"

His wing looked a little crooked, so I gently wrapped my arms around his body, and brought him closer to me. Surprisingly, he let me examine him. I looked at his entire body, and saw that he had a long scratch on his back. It looked as if it were a scar, and he had had it for his whole life.

"What's this?" I asked him as if he was going to answer me back. "A scar?" I waited for a response, then said, "Wait a second!" That's when it hit me! "I think I'll call you…_Scar!_" It fit him perfectly, and I think he liked it as well, because he started jumping up and down frantically. I smiled as he hopped a few feet away from me. Then I saw another bird, just like him, but it was red. I think it was a red cardinal.

Scar made his way over to the other bird, and began chirping. "Awww," I whispered. "Is that your friend?" Scar looked at me as the red bird flapped its wings, hovering over towards my face. It stared into my eyes, then chirped a little bit. "Are you tryna tell me somethin'?" Just as I said that, the bird fell and hit the branch, and soon after, it rolled off the branch on down to the ground below. "Oh no!" I was scared for the little creature, so I hurried down the tree, along with Scar.

"Are you okay?" I asked the bird, bending down. Scar landed beside her and just sat there, chirping. By this time, I forgot all about Peta and the game. "Come on, little birdy! Get up!" I was really frightened at that point, and I wasn't even surprised at how much I cared for such an inferior creature.

Just when all hope was gone, I closed my eyes and prayed, just as Trina did the other night. "Please don't die on me," I whispered to myself, opening my eyes. The bird was up and flying then, and I couldn't stop smiling. "Thank you," I whispered, looking up to the sky. I looked at the birds, who were both flying together and just having fun. This made me chuckle, and then that's when _another _idea occurred. "Wait!" Both birds stopped and began to hover in front of me. "How about…" I had the biggest smile ever on my face. "How about…_Hope!_ I'll name you…Hope!" She seemed to like it even better than when I named Scar.

I watched them cheerfully dance around in circles, however Scar was constantly falling a few inches down whenever he went up, and just breathed in the moment.

Our good time was interrupted by the sunset. "Oh no!" They noticed the worry in my voice and stared at me once again. "It's almost dark and I don't know where Peta is!" Scar and Hope seemed to understand me yet again, because they both began to freak out, flying in panicky circles around me.

**Chris**

**Night 5**

Trina and I were back at the cabin, safe and sound, wondering where Peta and Rosie were. Trina was at the door, looking into the darkness, while I sat on my own bed, thinking.

"Where could they be?" exclaimed Trina, looking back at me for a second. I shrugged, and pretended like I was paying attention. "Oh my gosh, Chris!" She was speaking at a fast rate, saying each sentence almost as fast as one word. "What if they're lost…or worse: _dead!_" I really thought she was being overdramatic, but I guess it was understandable due to the fact that she had almost lost Rosie once.

"Trina!" I yelled out calmly. "Calm down. They'll be okay." I knew I shouldn't have said that, but it was too late to take it back.

"What?" she shouted, walking over to me. "How? How…how the hell can you say 'calm down', when you're not lost out in the woods somewhere doing God knows what right now?" I looked at her with confusion.

"I didn't-" She put her finger in my face and looked completely psycho.

"Shut up, Chris!" she said, crazily. Her hair was in a mess about now, and she looked like she was about to break down and cry. "I've been out here too long! I think I'm goin' crazy…" I wanted to say something, but I just kept my mouth shut, watching her hold her head like she was hearing voices or something.

"Trina! Trina!" I shouted, getting up to help her. She immediately got down on her knees and began to cry, just like I expected. "Trina!" I cried. "Snap the hell out of it! You gotta keep it together! I promise if you just stand up, we can find Rosie…and Peta…_together!" _Her loud crying suddenly came to a cease, and she slowly looked up at me with tears of pain.

"Really?" she said, sounding just like Rosie. I smiled, and held out my hand to her.

"Really…." I responded firmly. She grabbed my hand, and used me to stand up. Trina still looked a mess, but she somehow managed to pull herself together. "Okay, since Rosie's smart, I think that she'll be pretty okay without us...for some time. But we have to find Peta. And he could be anywhere by-" At that very moment, Peta came running through the door, breathing heavily.

"Oh…oh my!" exclaimed Trina, running over to him. She gave him a big, long hug and let out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe you're alive!" Just then, she realized something. She let go of him and frantically looked behind him. "Where-where's Rosie?" They stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

"I don't know…" Peta replied. Trina dramatically waved her arms up and quickly back down. "We were playing hide-and-seek and I couldn't find her! I'm sorry…."

Slowly, Trina put her head on Peta's shoulder, and closed her eyes. "I know…" she whispered into his ear. "But it's not your fault." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was all a load of crap!

"But Trina-" I blurted, coming closer to them. "Trina! How can you say that after what just happened?" I looked at her as she turned towards me. She put her arm on my shoulder, and grabbed my hand with her other hand.

"Because, Chris…" I couldn't wait to hear what she was going to say next, but just as she opened her mouth, a little blue bird flew into the room. We had forgot to close the door.

"Wait! Look, it's a bird!" Peta cried out, bending down to greet it. Trina, of course, did the same. I stood still, watching them look like complete fools.

"Hey, birdy!" Trina said, in a playful voice. "What are _you _doing here?" Just then, another little bird, who was blue and beaten up, flew into the room, landing right beside the first bird.

"Oh, hey there!" said Peta. They both acted as if they were talking to babies, and it was really pissing me off. "Where'd you guys come from?" Then, the beaten up bird began to hop up and down frantically. I joined in on the conversation between the birds, Peta, and Trina.

"I think it's tryna tell us something!" I blurted, not knowing what I was saying. Trina looked at me as if I lost my marbles, and I said, "No, seriously!" The bird hovered a few inches from the ground, along with the red one, and they lead us outside the door.

"Chris, I don't think this-" Trina stopped when she saw the red bird fly a few inches away from her nose. Then, it began to make little noises, and she instantly knew to follow it. "I think they want us to follow them somewhere!" she said, which was what I had previously stated earlier.

In an instant, the blue bird was flying, or at least trying, up into the trees, while the red one was leading us straight forward. "Where is it taking us?" I asked Trina, panting a little as we ran side by side.

"I don't know!" replied Trina. We all tried as hard as we possibly could to keep up with the incredibly fast cardinal. "But it must be important." I was definitely with her on that idea.

After a few seconds, I could make out a little cloud of smoke off in the distance. Before I could do anything, Peta said exactly what was on my mind. "Stop!" His sudden out burst made me, Trina, and the two birds simultaneously come to a halt.

"What? What's wrong?" Trina asked, worriedly. We each stared back at Peta, who was behind us, staring straight ahead, and that's when I realized what was going on.

Quickly, I turned my head to see a huge forest fire a mile away. "There's a fire!" I cried out. Trina also turned around to see what I saw.

"Oh my gosh!" Trina yelled over the roaring flames. "That's probably what the-" She covered her eyes with her forearm as a tree fell in the fire. "-birds were showing us!" That's when the birds came back to us like before. "What is it?" Shouted Trina to the birds. They tweeted, then turned towards the fire. Peta and I both knew what that meant, and we were both too scared to do it.

"Wait!" I called out. "You want us to go in _there?" _I could barely hear my own voice with all the noises of the fire. The red bird came close to me and stared me in the eye. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared back at it. "Is Rosie in there?" I couldn't believe I was talking to a bird, but then again, it _did _lead us to the fire in the first place.

"Chris, what are you doing?" exclaimed Peta, with a befuddled look on his face. As a response, I looked deeply into the fire with confidence and pride. "You're not actually gonna go _in _there, are you?" I looked over at him, and nodded.

Trina knew exactly why I was going to do it, because right after, she said, "We _have _to! Rosie's in there!" Peta was totally confused and scared, but Trina and I were sure that we had to go in the fire…for Rosie.

"Trina!" cried Peta, squinting his eyes from the blazing inferno coming a little closer. "You _don't _have to do this! We can-"

"No!" interrupted Trina, looking Peta in the eyes again. "I'm going in there, whether _you_ want me to or not!" That's when I came in.

"Look, Trina," I tried to sound as heartfelt as possible over the noisy flames. "You don't have to go with me. I'll go and if I don't come back-" She gave me a look that quickly made me shut up.

"I _wanna _go!" she protested. "I _have _to go! I can't just let Rosie die in there!" Peta and I really didn't want her to go inside, but she seemed to really want to go in, despite our previous warnings. Just then, another tree fell to the ground and the fire got bigger and stronger.

"There's not enough time!" she screamed at us. "Come on!" In that moment, she pulled my arm and the two of us ran into the fire as if it were a sunset. "Hurry!" she cried out, running straight into the fire with her eyes closed. She didn't look worried at all, she just looked like a brave mother saving her child from imminent doom.

The closer we got to the fire, the hotter the flames felt on my skin. I felt like I was going to just spontaneously combust. "We're not gonna make it!" I shouted, staring deep into the orange flames. "We're gonna die!" I felt as if I were running into the gates of Hell and I wasn't ever going to come back out.

"Just keep running!" Trina screamed at me, moving her hand down to my hand. "We have to save Rosie!" I agreed with her, and the only thing I could think of was Rosie. I saw her smiling face, and I heard her cute laugh. I saw her eyes winking at me and I pictured her crying face. Then I thought of her charming and funny personality.

At that moment, we were inside the fire. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. All I saw was orange and purple flames surrounding me, and I thought I was going to die.

The world moved in slow motion as Trina and I ran through the blazing heat while holding hands. "Rosie!" screamed Trina, sounding like a crazed monster. "Rosie!" I would've cried, if only we weren't so hot.

Before I knew it, I was on the floor, panting with sweat dripping down my face. My entire body was in pain, and I saw Rosie lying on the ground, unconscious. "Rosie?" I managed to whisper. Slowly, my eyes shut, making the world around me nothing but a mere memory.

**Peta**

Patiently, I waited for the three of them to return safely. But realistically, I knew it wasn't possible for all three of them to return alive and unharmed. So, I just stared deeply into the fire, wondering why Trina ignored my warnings. And that's when my little sister's face popped into my head.

Before I was put into foster care, there was a house fire back at home, and the thing that upset me the most was the fact that I had a chance to save my little sister, Sydney, but was to afraid to do anything. Also, I was mad at the simple fact that it was I who started the fire that day.

You see, I was cooking lunch for Sydney, who was very ill at the time. When I went upstairs, I had forgot to turn off the stove, and then I went outside to play with my friend. By the time I got back home from his house, there was a huge fire spreading throughout the house. I was too scared to do anything, and all I could hear besides the fire was my sister screaming my name upstairs.

"Sydney?" I yelled from downstairs.

"Peta! Is that you?" she shouted. I wanted to run up the stairs to her, but I couldn't find the courage to do it, so I just yelled at her from downstairs.

"Yeah!" I replied, looking around. "Where's mommy and daddy?" There was a short pause, and then she answered back.

"I don't know, Peta! But I'm scared! Please, help me!" I felt a tear fall down my cheek as I listened to her voice.

"I can't!" I cried. "I just can't!"

"Peta, please!" she screamed. "I don't wanna die! Please!" I held both my ears and closed my eyes, hoping that her words would disappear. But her helpless cries played on repeat in my head, over and over, constantly. "Please! I never meant to annoy you! I promise I'll never do it again, Peta! Please help me!"

I got to my knees, screaming, and then, suddenly, it all stopped. I opened my eyes to see that I was back in the forest, and Trina was running out of the fire with Rosie in her arms. "Trina," I muttered under my breath, watching her come closer and closer to me.

"Peta!" she called out, stopping in front of me and putting Rosie on the ground. "I need to go back and get Chris!" Slowly, I got to my feet and grabbed her wrist to restrain her from running away.

"You can't go back in there!" I warned. Our faces were only an inch apart as she stared deep into my soul through my eyes.

"No!" interrupted Trina, breaking free of my hold. "I'm _going, _and you _can't _stop me!" She tried to run again, but this time I grabbed a hold of her shoulders.

"No!" I barked, firmly. "I'll go! You stay!" She looked back at the fire, then at me, and then sighed.

"Fine!" she said, giving in. Suddenly, without notice, she grabbed me by the cheeks and pulled my face closer to hers, and just like that we were kissing. It was a nice, romantic kiss, that I absolutely loved. It was so passionate, but as much as I loved her lips against mine, I knew I had to rescue Chris, so I abruptly pulled away. She looked at me for a second and then said, "Now go!"

"I'll be back," I said, taking one last look at her beautiful smile, then running off into the blazing heat, just as Trina instructed. While I was running, I had a weird urge to scream. So, I began to scream louder and louder as I got closer to the flames. The hotter I got, the more and more I thought, _Why the hell am I doing this? _and _I should've done this for Sydney! _Those horrible thoughts make a single tear fall down from my eye, but then it vanished due to the extreme heat.

As I was in the fire, I felt absolutely nothing. I didn't feel pain, I didn't feel joy, I didn't feel anything, but air flowing around me. It wasn't until I hit the ground when I felt like I was dead, the only thing I could do was scream.

When I looked up, I immediately saw Chris laying on the ground, unconscious, while someone else was above him. I couldn't make out who that person was, and everything felt like a dream. It felt like an OBE, but I could no longer feel my body, as I slowly drifted into a darkness I've only visited while asleep.

**Trina**

"Come on! Wake up!" I cried, slapping Rosie gently on her face repeatedly. Yet, no matter how much I yelled and cried, she just laid there on the ground with her eyes closed and her eyelids unmoving. "Please, Rosie!" I begged. "I don't wanna lose you! At least not now!" I didn't think she could hear me, but I tend to talk when I'm nervous or scared.

My knees were getting tired from sitting on them, so I quickly got to my feet, putting my hand on my forehead, looking around nervously. "Someone!" I yelled out. "Anyone! Help!" I waited for a response, and then sat back down next to Rosie. "Please," I whispered. "Help…." I began to weep, and just when I thought that nothing could make that moment worse, I felt a chill down my spine. Instantly, I turned my head to see a short, Italian boy, about 13 years old. I was too embarrassed to speak, also because my throat was too dry to say anything.

"Is she okay?" he finally asked, pointing to Rosie. I looked up at him, caressing Rosie's fine hair and smooth face, which was laying on my lap like a pillow.

"I don't know," I managed to say, letting another tear roll down my cheek. It tasted remarkably salty, but it felt soothing against my tongue and lips. "She was in the fire, but I was able to get her out. I'm not sure how long she was in there, or how long the fire's been alive, but all I know is that she was unconscious when I found her.

"Hold on," he said, getting on the ground, opposite of me. "Does she still have a pulse?" I realized that I hadn't checked to see if she was breathing, so I swiftly moved my hand to her wrist and placed my thumb on it. When I felt a beat, I happily looked up at him and nodded vigorously. "Okay, good!" His facial expressions suddenly changed from serious and prepared, to serious and uneasy in about a second.

"What?" I quickly asked, looking into his blank, yet disturbed face. "What's wrong?" He then snapped out of his daze, and looked back at me.

"Do you know mouth-to-mouth?" the boy questioned. I let out a sigh of anger, and buried my hands into my face. "Well, _do _you?" he repeated, impatiently, causing me to angrily let my arms fall to my sides.

"Ugh, no!" I said at a low volume. "No. I never got the whole concept of CPR and all that shit!" He looked at me as if I was mentally deranged.

"So you never learned-"

"No!" I interrupted, quite rudely. "I didn't okay…don't _you _know how to do it?" He gave me a look of sorrow and shook his head. "Well _someone _has to do it!" We were both out of luck here, and so was Rosie. All I could do was look at Rosie, playing with her hair while talking to her in my mind. "You're gonna make it, Rosie…." I whispered to her. Just then, the boy sat straight up and smiled.

"I've got an idea," he said, excitedly. Without notice, he bent over and put his lips to Rosie's lips. I was tremendously shocked, but was highly speechless, so I just watched him kiss a very defenseless Rosie. After a few seconds of watching him blow air into her, I noticed a figure coming out of the fire in the corner of my eye. Swiftly, I turned my head to see Peta running out of the ring of fire, with Chris running right beside him.

I looked back at Rosie and the boy, then at Chris and Peta who were right in front of me now. To this day, I still don't know how the four of us managed to go through the fire and not catch on fire.

Chris and Peta were both out of breath and sweating like never before. I could see the exhaustion in their faces, and said, "Peta! Chris! You're alright!" Cheerfully, I stood up and hugged them both, not caring about their bruises, cuts, and ripped clothing.

"We…just…saw…" Chris took a deep breath in between each word. "…Trenton…in…the…." He was cut off by the sound of Rosie coughing and choking.

"Rosie!" I exclaimed, bending over to hug her tightly. "I can't believe you're alive!" She was very puzzled, and was looking around tiredly.

"What happened?" she questioned, in a low, confused voice. "Where am I?"

"You fainted in the fire," I calmly replied.

Then the boy added, "And I saved you!" Rosie stared at him now. "I'm Blade…Blade Steel." We all chuckled at his name, despite the fact that we were all in excruciating pain and discomfort.

"Sorry, sorry," said Peta, controlling himself from laughing. "It's just that Blade Steel is such a stupid name!" We all broke into spontaneous laughter, except for Rosie, who was still befuddled.

Once we got our laughs out, we headed back to the cabin. Ironically, we found it with no problem.

While back in the safety of our cabin, we introduced ourselves to the newest member of our cabin hotel. "I'm Trina," I said, sitting on my own bed. "That's Peta." I pointed to Peta, who was sitting right next to me. When I pointed, I felt a sharp pain and quickly yelped, pulling my hand back.

"My name's Chris," Chris said, politely. He sounded more polite than he had in days, but he still wasn't smiling.

"And I'm Rosie!" exclaimed Rosie, who was sitting in Chris's bed next to him. They were both in the most pain, with bruises, scratches, and burns all over their bodies. In addition to the obvious marks, they also had ripped clothing, as well as Peta and I. Although Rosie seemed to be able to conceal her pain the easiest, unlike Chris, who was hold his left forearm wincing in pain every few seconds.

Blade sat in the center of the room, in between both beds. "Well," he began, folding his legs. "I guess since you're all okay, I can go back to my cabin tomorrow." We all stared at him in confusion, because he didn't ask to stay with us like Rosie and Peta did.

"Um, are you sure?" I asked him, unsure of his statement.

"Yeah, I don't wanna be a burden on anyone," he replied, kindly. Chris and I exchanged befuddled glances as usual, but this time Chris said something totally out of character.

"You can stay! We won't mind!" I stared at him in shock, and so did Rosie.

"Chris!" snapped Rosie. "Have you lost your mind? Since when do _you _show hospitality?" I decided to join in.

"Yeah! I thought you were supposed to show _hostility, _not _hospitality!" _He didn't seem to care that we were insulting him, which made us even more suspicious of his strange new behavior. I groaned and said, "Fine! Be that way!" I guess that I liked it when Chris was being hostile towards us.

"Anyways…" sang Blade, trying to change the subject. I saw that I had forgotten all about him, so I adverted my attention back to Blade.

"Sorry," I apologized, blushing a little. "So…" I looked around at everybody's bored expressions, and decided to break the ice, as they used to say. "What do you wanna be when you grow up, Blade?" Quickly, I faked a smile, and watched him as he stared at the floor, thinking.

"Ummm…" he hummed, still thinking. I felt like I was talking to Rosie. "Oh, I know! A doctor!" My fake smile suddenly vanished and I couldn't help but put on a real smile from ear to ear. "What?" He must've thought that I was going to laugh at him.

"Nothing, nothing…" I whispered, putting my head down to look at my fingers, who were messing with each other nervously. I then forced myself to stop smiling, and added, "I just thought that you would've said something silly, like a rock star, or a-a Peacekeeper, or something like that." When I looked back up, he was smiling.

"Why the heck would I wanna be a Peacekeeper?" he laughed, trying not to be insulted. I giggled a little and looked back at my nervous fingers playing in my lap.

"I-I don't know-just forget it…." I inhaled deeply, and let out an overdramatic sigh. There was a long, awkward silence followed afterwards, but eventually it was broken by Rosie's complaint.

"I'm tired!" she complained, lying on her side. Chris got up and laid down next to her, positioning himself comfortably into the bed. Peta decided to get up and sit on the floor next to Blade. "Goodnight!" she called out, waiting for anyone to respond.

"Night," I said, softly, getting into bed. I heard the others respond as well. After that, Chris turned off the light and I just laid on the bed, staring into space.

Little, meaningless thoughts flowed through my mind as I tried to fall asleep. I thought about Chris and I, I thought about Peta and I, but most of all, I though about Blade. I thought about how he said he wanted to be a doctor. Most kids these days would probably say that they don't know what they want to be, or they'd say they want to be something stupid or childish.

These and plenty more rushed through my brain all at once, and it was giving me a bit of a headache, so I emptied my mind and slowly drifted off to sleep.

**Peta**

I sat next to Blade, staring into the darkness. He was on his back and all I could see was his figure so I wasn't sure if he was even asleep or not.

"Blade!" I whispered out. A couple of seconds later, he responded with an alert voice.

"What," he whispered back. I smiled a bit and continued to converse with him.

"Are you awake?" I asked, foolishly. This time he didn't respond, probably because of the silly question I had just asked him. So I let out a sigh along with my next question: "Why are you here?" I felt a cold stare as he slowly sat up facing me. "Never mind. That was a stupid question! You don't have to-" Before I could finish talking he had already began to reply to my question.

"I was 5 years old when my dad died. I don't know how or why he died, I just know he did. But I can still remember seeing his smiling face and hearing his deep, peaceful voice." He paused for a moment, probably because he didn't want to cry or something. "And then when I turned 7, my mother was very ill with Ammonia and I had to take care of her while taking care of my two younger brothers. After I turned 8, she died, leaving me and my brothers to be taken into foster care. My youngest brother, Harold was 4 when he was adopted by a nice, rich family." I heard him cough and choke every time he finished a sentence. "But my other brother, Kaleb, was diagnosed with leukemia about a year later when he was only 5. He fought an ongoing battle for his life, but in the end, the disease was the stronger warrior. He died a slow, painful death at the age of 7. Yet and still, no one wanted to adopt me, so I was put into this stupid game!" Silence filled the room with guilt and sympathy.

"Well," I said softly, trying not to tear up myself. "I hope you get to be a doctor soon." I heard him sniffle, and that caused something inside me to burn like the fiery depths of Hell.

"Yeah! I wanna be able to help all those people just like Kaleb and my mother! I wanna make a difference in this world…one way or another!" I felt an icy tear slide down my cheek and it gave me chills.

"And I know you will," I assured. "I know you will…."

"But what if I don't make it?" he questioned me. "What if I-" I knew exactly what he was planning to say, so I interrupted him before he could say it.

"You _won't!"_ I snapped. Then I lowered my voice again, saying, "You won't. Trust me…." After that, he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. Once he let go, he positioned himself back onto his side, as though our conversation had not just happened.

That's what I like about him and Rosie: **Almost nothing affects them.** They're like warriors, although they _do _have weaknesses, such as: love, death, and various emotions. But other than that, it's like they're indestructible from the outside.

With warriors in my mind, another strange thought happened to creep its way into my skull: **Death. **This game revolved around the death of minors, and it seemed like everyone was okay with that except for the players. Death isn't something to just play around with for entertainment; this isn't the Roman coliseum, which is in fact used for the _Final Battle_ every few years. It's just a game to the people watching, and there's nothing that we can do on the inside.

Usually, you're 'On the outside looking in' or 'On the inside looking out' , but this time we're on the 'Inside looking in'. There's no way for anyone to get in to come save us, and there's no way to get out for us to escape.

Now I was thinking about the whole concept of the _Peace Wars, _and how the government is somehow "instilling peace within the lives of the nation" when they're killing off the innocent and young just because they can't find a home or because they have behavioral issues. That's like shooting a baby kitten or puppy just because they're ugly(which the government is doing, by the way).

Slowly and forcefully, I mentally walked my way into a deep dream, most of which I couldn't even recall when I woke up.

**Day 6**

The room was bright and my neck and back were stiff from sleeping on the rough, cold floor. Slowly and rigidly, I sat up and cracked my neck, then stood up to stretch. I realized that Blade was snoring on the wood floor beside where I was, and Chris was fast asleep in his own bed. He was sprawled out across the bed as if he was thrown onto the bed carelessly.

The only two members of our group missing were Rosie and Trina, so I walked to the door, turning the door knob.

It was a very beautiful morning, although I didn't really know what time it was, other than the fact that it was still bright out. My eyes could barely stay open due to the extreme sunlight in my eyes, and I felt naked because of my torn clothing.

"Hey, Peta!" I heard off in the distance. Looking around, I saw Rosie and Trina about a mile away. Instinctively, I ran towards them both.

"Hey!" I greeted, smiling. "What are you doin' up this early?" Trina came towards me smiling.

"Rosie and I were starving," she informed, looking up at me with her calm green eyes. "So we came out to look for some food." I switched my attention to the carefree Rosie sitting at a tree.

"Oh…" I responded, monotone. A sudden thought occurred to me at that moment. "Can I…um, ask you…something?" She gave me an even bigger, yet completely natural smile.

"Sure," she answered quickly. "I mean," she tried to sound as calm and relaxed as possible. "Of course, anything. What is it?" I knew she was eager to hear what I had to say, although I wasn't ready to hear her response.

Letting out a long, dramatic sigh, I planned out my words very carefully in my mind about a hundred times. "Umm," I stuttered. "I'm not really sure how to say this," I was sweating all over and I got queasy and nervous. "But…" I couldn't help but trip over almost each word as I stared into her hauntingly beautiful green eyes. "I think-I think…" She frowned at me.

"What's wrong?" Trina asked me, her voice made me tremble and even more nervous. I couldn't believe I was in love with her…I was in love with an…angel.

"Trina!" I heard Rosie say. "What's the matter with Peta?" I could no longer see them, all I saw was darkness.

"I don't know," I heard Trina shout. "He was tryin' to tell me something and then he just blanked out."

After that, all I could see was Trina's smiling face. I saw Chris on the ground, lifeless, along with Rosie and Blade. The only thing alive was Trina standing in front of me smiling from ear to ear. I was scared, yet happy at the same time.

After about a few seconds of unconsciousness, I heard, "Peta! Peta!" I slowly opened my eyes to see a worried Trina standing just a few inches from my face, and Rosie at my feet, also worried.

"What happened?" I whispered to her.

"I don't know!" she cried. "You were tryin' to tell me something, but then you just zoned out and then you passed out." She then felt my forehead and said, "You're not hot, so you're probably not dehydrated." Trina helped me to my feet, and I dusted myself off.

"How long was I out?" I asked, looking at the sun, which was already trying to hide behind a couple of trees.

"Not too long," Rosie replied, standing behind me. I turned to look at her. "We got some food while you were unconscious, though." She held up two white bags with black P's labeled onto them, then I turned back to Trina.

"I had the weirdest dream, though," I told Trina, thinking back to what I saw while unconscious a moment ago. Trina came closer to me, coddling me as though I was a little baby in need of a band-aid.

"Oh, what happened?" she said, with no hesitation. "Was I there?" I looked down at her, shocked.

"Actually, you were," I replied, still thinking about it. "And so was Rosie." I turned to Rosie, who was eating a biscuit until I said her name.

"What?" she said, blank minded . I turned back to Trina to continue my story.

"And Chris was there…and so was Blade!" She looked interestedly at my dazed facial expressions. "They were all…on the floor…unconscious!" I didn't want to tell her what I really saw, because she might start jumping to conclusions. "And you-you were smiling at me!" I looked at her facial expression, which was looking more and more frightening the more I spoke. "It only felt like a few seconds, though. One second I was talking to you, then I was all alone in the dark. Next thing I know I see you smiling, and Rosie, Blade, and Chris on the floor. Before I could do anything, I heard your voice and I woke up!"

Trina stared into my eyes with a very frightened expression on her beautifully perfect face. She raised both eyebrows as if to signal a sign of panic or unease. "Oh-oh my gosh, Peta," she said putting her right hand on my back, while grabbing my hand with her free one. "What does this mean? Do you think that this could this be an-an _omen?_" I almost laugh at her question.

"Don't be silly, Trina!" I retorted. "You can't seriously believe in all those superstitions and satanic crap, right?" She continued to give me a look that made my stomach churn, while putting her hands to her side. "No, Trina! Don't worry! Nothing's going to-" At that very moment, I remembered that Rosie was still with us. I turned to see her nonchalantly eating a ripe, red apple.

"Rosie…" I said in a low voice, slowly walking towards her. "Rosie. Where'd you get that apple?" She looked up at me from the root of the tree, smiling. Instead of speaking, she simply pointed at the top of the tree, where there were tons and tons of beautifully ripe red and green apples.

Trina then walked over to us and looked up into the field of apples in the sky. "Wait!" exclaimed Trina, quickly looking back at Rosie eating the apple. "How did you get that if they're way up there?" Rosie gave her an even bigger smile, showing her cute dimples.

"I climbed up there while you were talking," she responded, taking a big bite out of the apple, making a chomping sound. She chewed for a few seconds, then swallowed the food in her mouth. "I can get more if you want." With that, she stood up and threw the apple a few feet away.

"How much water do we have?" Trina asked me.

"Ummm…" I hummed, looking around while scratching my rough hair. "I doubt that we'll need anymore, considering the fact that there's a well right behind our cabin." Trina put her hand on her chin and began to think. After a couple of seconds, her face lit up as if she had an 'Ah-Ha!' moment.

"Chris and Blade should've woken up by now!" she told me, with her eyebrows pointed inward. "I'm gonna go get them. Stay here and get more apples. I'll be _right _back; don't move!" I nodded my head as a signal for her to leave.

I watched as she began to jog away from Rosie and I, and then turned to Rosie, who had a tiny frown on her face. "Okay," I sighed. "Let's get more apples." She then smiled and turned to hug the tree. I tried to help by giving her a boost with my hands, but I guess she didn't really need it.

"I'm almost there, Peta!" she shouted down to me from the tree. I stood there, waiting with my neck cramping. I watched as she edged herself towards a branch, grabbing a single apple. "Gotcha!" I heard her whisper. "Catch!" I extended out my arms to catch whatever she threw down at me. Before I knew it, I felt a sharp pain in my forehead, and Rosie was standing over me, snickering.

"Oh my gosh, Peta!" she exclaimed, trying really hard not to laugh in my face. "Are you alright?" She was forcing her smile to go away, but it just kept coming back, stronger each time.

"What-what happened?" I said, looking around in a daze. Trina, Chris, and Blade were all surrounding me with worried looks. I looked up into the sky to see the sun setting.

"You got hit by an apple," Trina informed me. I looked at her, barely able to keep my eyes open.

"Yeah," added Blade. "You have a mild concussion; but I'm sure you'll be just fine." He looked at me with a smile, but I turned my attention back to Rosie, giving her a stern look.

"What!" she cried. Everyone looked at her angrily. "It was an accident!" Trina scoffed, while Rosie sighed. They all focused their attention back on me, while Trina helped me to my feet.

"We should get back to the cabin before it gets dark!" suggested Trina, glancing at the sky, then back at me. I remembered the reason why we even left the cabin.

"But wait-did you get any food?" They all looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders and raising their eyebrows. "Wait-wait! So _none _of you got _any _food?" I let out an angry sigh, but then Blade spoke up.

"I did!" he exclaimed, showing me a white bag.

"That's all?" Chris asked. We exchanged glances once again. "There's five of us now, so we need to be able to get enough food so we won't have to worry about the next meal or whether or not we'll _have _a next meal!" I think we all agreed on that notion, and that's when Rosie came forward.

"I got _this_!" she told us, picking up medium sized basket of apples and grapes. That put a smile on each and every one of our faces.

"Grapes?" I exclaimed. "Where'd you get those from?" She looked around suspiciously. "Rosie?" She was very reluctant to answer, which made us worry.

"Rosie!" snapped Trina, wagging her finger. "_Where _did you get those grapes?" She still didn't reply, so Trina added, "Fine! Don't tell us. But we _need _to get to the cabin." She looked to the sky, and with that, we began to walk in the direction of the cabin.

**Night 6**

It wasn't completely dark yet, but then again it wasn't exactly daytime either. Either way, we knew we had to get back to the cabin before the moon set. "Trina!" I called out softly, in case anyone was around. I swiftly made my way closer to Trina, putting her in between me and Rosie. Chris was walking right beside Rosie, while Blade was walking alongside Chris. "Hey, Trina!" She looked at me, while still paying attention to the path ahead of her.

"What, Peta?" she asked, sounding a little teed off. The tone in her voice gave me a sign to back off; I ignored it and drove towards the unfinished bridge.

"Ummm…" I hummed to, looking ahead. Every few seconds I would look over at her face, then quickly advert my eyes to what was in front of me just to avoid eye contact. "Remember when I passed out earlier?" I looked over to see her facial expression, but we accidentally made eye contact for a couple of seconds. Immediately, I forced myself to look forward again.

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed. "You looked pretty nervous back there; like you couldn't say what was on your mind." That's exactly how I felt! But I couldn't just let _her _know that! So I pretended(or at least tried) to brush it off as if it were nothing.

"Yeah…well _about _that." I scratched my head, thinking of what to say next. Nervously, I looked around to find any distractions to get me out of this situation, when I saw the cabin a few yards away. "Oh look!" I shouted, now standing still and pointing at the cabin. "The cabin!"

"Come on!" directed Chris, leading us all to the little shack we called home. Before we could get to the door, we each stopped as a dark, eerie sound crawled through our ears, sending chills down our spines.

"What…was that?" whispered Trina, crouching down, looking around. We were all crouching motionless, as if whatever was there was all around us.

"I don't know," Chris responded, also surveying the area. That's when Rosie screamed, causing my heart to pump even faster than it already was. I just so happened to look to my left, and saw something that paralyzed me from head to toe.

"Peta!" cried Trina, grabbing me while staring into my eyes. "What happened?" My body was shaking uncontrollably and I wanted to scream, but my throat wouldn't let me. "Peta! What the hell is-" That's when she looked where I was looking, and it made her scream like Rosie did. "A Peacekeeper!" Just then, a hooded Peacekeeper came running out of the darkness and had a light saber in its hands.

"Run! Run! Run!" screamed Chris. I was finally free to move, so I grabbed Trina by the arm and ran behind Chris and Rosie, straight to the cabin door. Without second thought, we ran into the(supposedly) safe cabin and threw ourselves into different spots in the room.

I was on the floor next to Trina's bed, Chris was in his bed, and Trina was on her bed holding Rosie's head underneath her chin, shivering. Everyone was panting and shivering like they had just seen a ghost.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Chris, still a little shaky from the ordeal. Suddenly there was a banging on the walls, causing Rosie and Trina to jump and shriek. Trina put her hand on her heart as if she was having a heart attack and closed her eyes.

"Oh my god," she mumbled, opening her eyes. "I-I think we're safe in here." She and I both looked around the room, and that's when it hit me: **Blade was still outside!**

"Oh no!" I gasped, sitting up, then getting to my feet. "We left Blade outside!" Chris, Trina, and Rosie all seemed to have an 'Ah-Ha!' moment, because they each stood up and they looked as alert as a prison ward on night duty.

"We gotta go back!" cried Trina, being a natural born caregiver. Swiftly, she hopped over to the door, opening it in a single motion. Instinctively, we followed behind her. "Rosie, _stay here_!" Being that we were in an emergency situation, she didn't hesitate to oblige.

Once outside, we saw no sign of the Peacekeeper _or _Blade. "Oh no!" I whispered to myself. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no, _no!" _I couldn't believe what had just happened, I just _couldn't_. I also couldn't help but to blame myself for what happened.

"Blade!" yelled Chris, cupping his hands to his mouth. "Blade!"

"Blade!" shouted Trina, doing the same thing as Chris. I sighed, convincing myself that it was my fault that we left Blade.

"Blade!" I called out, looking at the smoke leave my mouth as I yelled. It was freezing outside, and I could smell death's cologne; it's not a very attractive scent, but I was forced to breathe it in, whether I liked it or not. "Blade! Where are you?" A figure caught the corner of my eye, and I turned to my right to see Blade on the ground. "Oh no, Blade!" I lead Trina and Chris over to the defenseless body of our newest member.

"Oh…my god!" whispered Trina, covering her mouth with her hands. Chris and I kneeled down to examine our friend. "Blade?" She just stared at his body, helpless.

"Help me get him inside," I told Chris, carefully grabbing Blades upper body, while Chris handled his lower body. Trina walked with us, just looking at his body, crying over him. I, on the other hand, was trying not to show any emotions whatsoever. Although I was trying to act tough on the outside, I was slowly fading away on the inside. My brain was turning to mush and my heart was getting ready to give up. I was ultimately dying inside, while on the outside I was(to a certain degree) healthy.

Once inside the cabin, Trina shut the door behind us, and closely watched as we set Blade gently on Chris' bed. "Okay," I sighed, putting my hands on my hips. "Check his pulse; see if he's still breathing." Even though I knew this was no laughing matter, I thought it was kind of funny(in an ironic sort of way) that we were playing doctor on a wannabe doctor.

Chris did as instructed, feeling his wrist while keeping a disappointed look on his face. When he turned towards us, he seemed shocked; angry; speechless for a lack of better words.

"What?" cried Trina, looking nerve-racking and stressed. "What-what? Is he-" She stopped mid-sentence. It seemed like almost none of us could say the dreaded 'D' word, despite the fact that it was inevitable for all of us, whether we did anything or not.

"Unfortunately…" Chris said, looking down at the floor. "Yes." Trina broke down at that point, crying into her hands and throwing herself onto her own bed.

"But-but…we didn't even _do _anything!" I protested, forcing the tears to stay still. "There has to be _something _we can do! _Anything_!" Dramatically, Chris looked back at me with sorrow in his eyes. He slowly shook his head and sat next to Trina, gently trying to console her.

"It's okay, Trina," he whispered. "It's gonna be…" He paused for a moment, looking back at me, then to Trina again. "…it's gonna be alright." I watched Rosie sit next to Chris, also crying. Somehow this was all my fault, and I felt terrible about the whole thing.

Carefully, I sat next to Blade, staring at his closed eyes. He looked so peaceful, it was almost as if he were sleeping. Seeing him lay there with his eyes closed like that made me feel some sort of way. It made me feel like a horrible person, despite what _anyone _could _ever _say.

I couldn't believe that he was dead; he had dreams, he had hopes. He had hopes of getting out of this horrible place and making a difference in the world. But now he couldn't even do half of that stuff. It just tore my heart to pieces! How could the government allow such children like Blade to be hunted by other(somewhat) humans and say that it's just? That's a bunch of bullshit if you ask me! This whole thing is bullshit! But I guess these are just one of those things that you have to live with…or die trying to change.

As these thoughts bounced around in my head, I let out a sigh of utter remorse. "So…" said Trina, standing up. "I guess this is it." I didn't know what she was talking about, and I guess that Chris didn't either, because he stood up beside her with a puzzled face.

"What's it?" asked Chris, putting his arm around her neck and shoulders. Trina looked to Blade, and smoothly trotted towards his dead body, getting free of Chris' arm.

"Everything, Chris!" she exclaimed, turning around to face Chris, with her back now towards Blade and I. "Don't you see?" Trina was starting to scare me, like when she was walking in circles muttering negatively to herself.

Rosie, who was still sitting on my bed, had a frightened look on her face, which wasn't very pleasing or reassuring. "What-what are you talking about?" she whimpered. Trina then looked over at Rosie, as if she were a baby deer and Trina was a momma lion feeding her newborn cubs.

"Blade's dead!" she cried out, moving closer to Rosie. "He's dead!" she repeated, getting closer and closer to her prey. "Pretty soon, it'll be all of us!"

"Trina, you're scaring me!" Rosie squealed, backing up a little. There was a long pause, and I could smell the awkwardness in the air.

"Oh-oh my god, Rosie…." gasped Trina, cupping her mouth with both hands. "I am so, so sorry! I don't know what came over me! I just get so emotional and I-" She stopped mid-sentence, and began to weep into her hands. No one spoke, although Rosie also began to cry. As for Chris, a few tears fell down his cheek as he looked over at me with a hint of shame in his eyes.

Somehow I convinced myself that this was all my fault, which made me even more angry. "I'm sorry!" I suddenly blurted out, standing up. Tears in my eyes, I moved to the wall directly behind me and punched it as hard as I could. I put the top of my head against the wall with my eyes closed. "I'm sorry…." I repeated to myself, tasting a single tear on my tongue.

When I turned back around, I saw that everyone was watching me with fear in their eyes, as well as tears. "Peta…." said Trina, trembling. I was speechless, so I just sat on the floor, and curled up with my knees on chest.

"I'm sorry…." I whispered, one last time. Once again, there was a long awkward silence.

The rest of that night was pretty depressing. Trina was crying, Rosie was weeping, and Chris was fighting back tears. As for me, I couldn't help but blame myself. I don't know why I believed that. Heck! I don't even know _how_ it could've been my fault, I just know that I couldn't stop blaming myself.

**Chris**

**Day 7 **

The next morning, I woke up on the floor next to Rosie. Trina was lying in her own bed, and it seemed as if she was having a nightmare, because she kept tossing and turning and muttering to herself.

So I got to my feet, and looked over at Blade. It made me shudder when I looked at-or even thought about-him. I gathered myself and walked over to the door to get a full view of the room. That's when I realized that Peta wasn't in the room. I figured that the only other place he could be was outside, so I consciously turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The first thing I saw was the bright sun in my face, and the second thing I noticed was Peta standing alone. His back was faced towards me, too, so I decided to have a little fun.

Slowly, I made my way to him without making a single sound. I readied my hands to scare him, but before I could even do anything, he said, "I know you're there, Chris." His statement actually frightened me, considering that he had his back turned towards me.

"Oh…." I sighed, looking down at my torn shoes.

"Yeah," he replied as his answer, letting out a deep, depressing sigh. I just stared at him for a moment, and then decided to try to cheer him up.

"So…" I hummed, standing directly beside him. I even looked at the same spot on the ground as him. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He looked up at me for a second, and then look back at his shoes, sighing.

"Everything!" he slowly replied. I looked at him with confusion, although he wasn't looking back at me. Since I didn't respond, he took it upon himself to answer my unasked question. "I mean…this _game!"_ I liked the way he emphasized the word 'game'. "It's just so damn stupid! And idiotic! I just wish it never even existed. Sometimes I wish that _I _never existed." Then he began to breathe loud enough for me to know that he was furious.

All I could say was, "Oh…" That made him sigh once again, and it also made me sigh. After a few unhappy sighs, we made eye contact and I noticed that he had a few tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Chris!" he blurted, giving me a huge, uncomfortable hug. He started to cry hysterically, and I felt even more uncomfortable. Nervously, I looked over his shoulder at the cabin, to see if anyone was watching.

"It's…okay…" I answered, unsure of what was happening. Before I could say anything else, he let go of me and wiped his eyes.

"Sorry," he repeated once more, chuckling a little. "It's just…I get so emotional sometimes and I don't know why." He went from being sad and depressed right back to his normal self.

Being my charming, forgiving self, I was obligated to brush it off. "Oh, it's okay, I guess." He looked away from me again, thinking to himself. "Hey, Peta. Can I ask you something?" He looked at me with a smile.

"Uh, sure, Chris. Fire away." I looked at my fingers as I began to twirl them around nervously.

"Well, um, I don't really know how to say this, but…" I stopped fiddling with my fingers and started looking around nervously. Then I looked into his smiling face and said, "I wanted to ask you if…if you thought that you were responsible for Blade's death." His charming smile suddenly disappeared and he looked really disappointed and sad again, so I quickly added, "Wait! What I meant was…ugh…I mean-you don't have to answer that if you don't want to!" There was a long moment of silence that made me freeze up waiting for his unpleasant response.

Although, instead of giving me a depressing reply, he gave me quite the opposite type of answer. "Yes. I _do _think that it was my fault." I gasped to make him feel like I was being a little more empathetic than I really was.

"But why, Peta?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder and looking him directly in the eye. "How could any of this be your fault?" He gave me a look of sadness, and I thought he was going to cry.

"I-I don't know," he confessed, wiping a single tear from his eye. "But I just know it is!" I looked at him crossly and sighed, he just stared off behind me blankly.

Carefully, I removed my hand from his shoulder and looked at the cabin. "Look: I can't force you to believe that it was or wasn't your fault. So all I'll say is…Smile." With that, I gave him my best and fakest grin, and walked over to the cabin.

From the door of the cabin, I watched Peta as he stood silently. When he looked up at me, I gave him a thumbs up, but the moment he looked away, I rolled my eyes.

Then I looked up at the sunrise. It was so beautiful and majestic…kind of like Trina. Thinking about Trina got me thinking about Peta, too. Peta was a good friend, while I was probably just another clumsy fool in his way or something. It just irked me the way he and Trina got along so well. It seemed as though I couldn't do _anything _right!

Thinking about these negative thoughts made me sad, so I decided to just quit it and go back inside the cabin.

Consciously, I turned towards the door and slowly turned the doorknob. I had a strange feeling that I was being watched, so I stopped moving and quickly looked around me. I saw something move up in the trees, and I stared at it.

I knew I was being watched but I didn't want to say anything, in case they were armed or something. Hesitantly, I pushed the door open and bumped into Trina on the inside of the cabin. "Oh, Trina, you're up!" I said, trying hard not to make eye contact.

"Yeah," she said calmly. "I woke up a few minutes ago and saw that you two weren't here….And I couldn't stand being in there with…." She turned around to Blade's body and gulped. "You know!" I swallowed my spit and made my way over to the body.

"I think we should get…rid…of the body." She looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"Wha-what?" she sounded so sweet and innocent.

"I think we should probably move the body out of the cabin…you know…we can't just keep him in here." She seemed to agree with me, because she forced herself to come to where I was.

With tears in her eyes, she forced herself to grab Blade's cold, dead arms, and got ready to lift with me. I grabbed his feet and together we lifted him off the bed. Every step we took, I noticed how Trina held back another set of tears. There were more tears each and every time, too. It saddened me to see how much Blade's death affected her.

I'm not saying that I wasn't affected as well, but it just seemed as though Trina was affected most of all. But you can't really blame her, because she loves to take care of children. So I guess that when someone she really cares deeply for suddenly dies, she just loses it.

When we got to the door, I halted, staring at the floor, nervously. Then I adverted my eyes over to Trina. "You know you don't have to do this if you don't wanna," I pointed out, gently. "I'll understand if you don't want to." She thought for a moment, and then shook her head, breathing in deeply, then breathing out.

"No, no," she replied, breathing in very deeply, once again. "It's okay. I'll do what I have to do…it's for the best, isn't it?" She looked into my eyes as if she was in dire need of an answer.

"Yeah, of course," I told her. "For the best." With that being said, we continued to carry Blade's cold body out of the cabin door.

I turned around to see Peta a few yards away from us, and lead Trina over to him. "Should we put him here?" Trina asked me, curiously.

I looked down at the ground, then back to Trina, with confusion in my eyes. "No," I quickly responded. "We can't just-I mean…it wouldn't be right to just-we need to…" My words were completely jumbled up, and I just couldn't find the right words to say.

"It's alright," Peta commented, coming closer to us both. "I know what you mean." I let out a sigh of relief as Peta helped us carry the motionless body.

"So…where should we put him?" Trina asked, gathering all her strength not to cry.

That's when Peta opened his mouth to speak, "First of all, I think we should _bury _him." I totally agreed with him on that idea. "And second…we can't just put him _anywhere! _He's a person and deserves to be buried properly…_Peace Wars_ or not, he should have a proper funeral!" Trina and I exchanged unsure glances, and then she nodded to me.

Trina replied with a firm, "You're right." Then she forced herself to stop sobbing, and asked, "Let's bury him by the cabin." I looked into her eyes and saw something that I hadn't seen before. I don't know how to explain it, but it was just weird. It's like it wasn't even Trina at all, or maybe it was just another side of her that I wasn't familiar with. Either way, I'm not going to beat myself up trying to explain it.

"Chris?" I heard from out of nowhere. "Chris!" she repeated one last time. "Are you okay?" I could plainly see that she was worried.

"Uh, I don't know," I replied, looking down at the ground. "I-I guess I just zoned out for a while." On that note, we took the body to the cabin.

Once outside the cabin, we decided to bury him on the side. But when we got to the point where we had to dig, we realized that we didn't have anything to dig with, so we agreed on just laying him down with flowers.

With Blade on the ground, Trina, Peta, and I observed his body from above. He just looked so peaceful, with those red, yellow, and white roses in his hands, and his hands lying on his chest.

After about a few seconds, Trina burst into tears, while Peta and I tried the best we could to control our emotions. "I-I wanna say a few words…" cried Trina, wiping her teary eyes. "…about Blade." Me and Peta exchanged looks of sorrow, and then focused all out attention to the crying Trina. "Well…first…I'd just like to say…" She turned towards the body, and kneeled down, putting her right hand on his chest. "…I'd just like to say…I'd like to say that-that I loved you. I loved you like a child. I know I didn't know you very long, but I'm glad I met you at all. Second…I'd like to thank you…" she sniffled between words. "…for saving-" sniffle. "-Rosie. I…I-I…I just don't know what else to say!" She then turned to us with sincerity and innocence in her eyes.

"Ummm…" Peta hummed, kneeling down next to her. "There's nothing else _to _say! We _all _loved him…and I think he'd want us to win the _Peace Wars…_for _him!" _Trina looked over at Blade's face, then back at Peta.

With a tired voice, she said to Peta, "You-you really think so?" Peta once again exchanged glances with me, and smiled.

"I do." With that being said, he wrapped his arms around Trina, and they hugged for about a minute. When they let go of each other, Peta stood up, while Trina stayed on the ground staring at Blade's face. "Trina…" Peta called. "It's okay!" Trina looked up at Peta, then at me. I nodded my head to confirm his statement, and with that, she slowly got to her feet, now watching Blade again.

There was a long moment of silence, which was suddenly broken by Trina's spontaneous outburst of hysterical crying. She put her head on Peta's shoulder and continued to weep into his shoulder, while Peta gently patted her on the back like a baby. "Why'd he have to die so young?" Trina cried, distraughtly. Meanwhile, Peta hushed her like she was a real baby.

"Shhh, shhh!" he told her calmly. "Everything's gonna be alright…I promise." He then looked over at me, sending chills down my spine. I couldn't handle any more of this, so I rushed into the cabin, slamming it as hard as I could, and flopping into my bed. I curled up with my knees to my chin, and rocked back and forth, letting the tears slide down my face to my knees.

After about a couple of seconds, I regained my mental stability, and was able to stand up. I breathed in a huge amount of air, and walked to the door, letting it all out. "Chris?" I heard from behind me. I turned to see Rosie, standing directly behind me. She sort of scared me, too.

"Oh, hey, Rosie," I greeted. She looked a little sleepy, and stretched her arms while yawning. "I didn't realize you were up." She didn't look very tired anymore.

"Yeah…" she said, looking around. "What's wrong? I heard the door slam and it woke me up….Are Trina and Peta alright?" That seemed to strike a nerve, because I just lost my cool from that point.

Tears flowed from my eyes faster than any other time during the _Peace Wars_. I couldn't believe I was crying…and in front of Rosie, too! "Yeah," I told her, trying as hard as possible to not let out all my emotions at once. "Yeah, they're...they're fine…just fine!" I couldn't hold in my emotions any longer, and I spontaneously burst into tears.

"Chris?" she exclaimed, trying to console me. "What happened? Is everything alright?" I looked into her worried eyes, still crying, and shook my head. "What is it?" she demanded. I couldn't bring myself to speak, let alone stop crying. "Come on, Chris! I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!" With that, I was able to slow my crying down a bit; just enough for me to talk.

"Well, it's Trina." The moment I said Trina's name, Rosie opened the door and looked around, nervously.

"Oh my god, Chris!" she cried. "Don't tell me…is she…." I followed her outside as she panicked.

"No! No!" I quickly corrected her. "She's fine. It's just…." I turned to the right to see Trina and Peta arguing by Blade's body. "Trina? Peta?" They adverted their attention to me and Rosie at that point. I lead Rosie over to them to see what they were fighting about.

When we got over to them, they suddenly stopped fighting, but I could still taste the awkwardness in the air. Trina had her arms folded and had her back facing Peta, while Peta had his arms folded and his back facing Trina. "What were you guys fighting about?" I asked, calmly. Trina just looked at Peta, and angrily sighed.

"Well…I was just tryna tell Peta-" Before she could finish, Peta interrupted her.

"Nothing, Chris," Peta insisted. "Nothing…just a little argument. It's over now…right, Trina?" He unfolded his arms and turned to Trina.

"Yeah, nothing." She sighed again, unfolding her arms. "It was nothing…." She looked into Peta's eyes, as if they were communicating telepathically. When Trina looked over at me, she could see that I didn't believe them, so she insisted that it was nothing. "Really, Chris! It was nothing! Just a little…squabble! Yeah, _squabble_! That's it…just a little _squabble _between two friends." She instantly met eyes with Peta again, and it was starting to make me feel uncomfortable.

"Okay?" I said, looking down Rosie. She rubbed her stomach and gave me a look of discomfort.

"I'm hungry, Chris," she told me. "Can we go look for some food?" I nodded and looked around.

"Yeah, I guess we could." Rosie clapped happily for a moment, then got serious. "Okay, come on…" Then I thought for a second. "You comin', Trina?" Trina looked at Peta, then at me, nodding gently. She walked over to our side. "What about you, Peta?" He pondered on that question for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"Nah," he told me. "I think I'll just stay here…and watch the cabin." On that note, I led the girls into the woods. "Don't be long!" I heard him shout at us from behind. I decided not to dignify that with a response, although Rosie took it upon herself to say something back.

"Okay!" she replied, happily. There was no more dialog between Peta and any of us after that, and I was okay with that.

While walking in the woods, I noticed how Trina kept her head down the entire time. I decided to ask her what was wrong, so I made my way in between her and Rosie, and walked along beside her, casually. "Hey, Trina," I said to her, causing her to glance up at me for a moment.

"Uh, hey," she responded, sadly, still looking down at the ground. After a few silent seconds passed, I tried to break the silence by asking about the argument she and Peta had a few minutes ago.

Nervously, I looked up into her face, and said, "Well…umm…remember when you and Peta were…uh…fighting…a moment ago?" I finished my sentence and waited anxiously for her response.

"Oh, yeah," she finally said, sounding as gloomy as ever. "What about it?" I felt a rush of relief as I listened to her words.

"Um…" I hummed. "I was just wondering…" I looked over at Rosie and saw that she was intently paying attention to our conversation. She saw that I paused, and mouthed the words, 'Spit it out!'. I then turned back to Trina, finishing my sentence with, "I was just wondering…what…you guys were arguing about." I could feel my heartbeat pumping, although I wasn't running or doing anything physically challenging at all.

Trina looked deep into my eyes, probably so she could rip out my soul with her cold, dead stare. "Chris, look-I already told you-" I interrupted her before she could finish her thought.

"It wasn't nothing, Trina!" I protested, gently. "People don't just argue about nothing. I'm not as dumb as I may look, Trina!" That's when she stopped walking, as did I, then Rosie.

"Chris! _Please_! I have _enough _things on my plate as it is!" she cried. "So _please_…don't start this…not _here_! Not _now_!" She looked at me with her eyebrows facing the sky, and I was completely speechless. I turned to Rosie, and she just shook her head disappointedly.

On that note, the girls chose to just walk on without me, while I was still awestruck. "But-but…" I stammered, even though I was all alone.

**Peta**

Back at the cabin, I was mourning the loss of a loved one. Well, I wouldn't really classify Blade as a 'loved one', per say. More or less a 'dear friend' or something like that. Either way, I was still mourning the loss of Blade Steel.

I hadn't really known him too long, but I felt like I had just lost a best friend. I hadn't really known _any _of my friends here, but I think that I would still consider them all as family. A big, happy, dysfunctional family.

Just then, I turned around to see Chris coming from out of the woods. He looked incredibly sad and depressed, so I thought that I should cheer him up, just as he did with me earlier.

"Chris, what's wrong?" I asked him, meeting him a few feet away from the cabin door. "You look upset." When I said that, he looked at me with sadness in his eyes, and it made me shudder.

"I _am_…" he answered, continuing his path to the cabin door. I stopped him just a foot or two away from the door.

"I can _see _that…" I retorted, kindly and respectively. He didn't seem to be affected by my helpfulness, and he just continued to try to go to the door, but I continued to stop him before he could get there. "Chris, I'm trying to _help _you. And I can't help you if you don't help me help you…." He gave me a confused look, and I told him, "Never mind that, Chris. I just want you to be happy. I hate to see you looking dreary or dismal or even a little bleak. You're a good friend to me…the way you don't care about the way Trina likes me and-" He blew a puff of air angrily. "-I mean the way Trina-" He did it again. "-wait. Are you mad at _Trina_?" He rolled his eyes and sighed once again. He then nodded contently, folding his arms.

"Yeah," he pouted, looking around as if people were watching him.

"What happened?" I asked, calmly, trying as hard as possible not to strike a nerve by saying the wrong thing. If there's one thing I've learned about Chris, it's that he's like a ticking time bomb: One wrong move and he explodes.

Anyways, back to reality. "It's Trina!" he exclaimed, angrily, walking past me to get to his own bed.

"What happened?" I asked, eagerly, walking over and sitting beside him. "Did you guys have a fight again?" He looked pretty upset, so I thought it would be best to try to console him before he got out of control.

"Damn right we had a fight!" he shouted. "Well…it wasn't really a _fight, _per say. It was more like a…" He stopped and thought for a moment. "She just yelled at me, okay?" I wanted to ask him what she said, but I had a feeling that I might regret asking, so I just kept my mouth shut. Then he looked at me cross and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"What?" I innocently asked, knowing that I shouldn't have said anything.

Chris was a little bit more mad than before. "Well, aren't you gonna ask what she said?" I just stared into space for a moment, and it was awkwardly quiet and still.

"Ummm…" I croaked. "No?" I said, unsure of what was going to happen next. Instead of exploding as I anticipated, Chris just sighed and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Uh, Chris? Are you-" He interjected before I could finish.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine!" he told me, smiling now. "I guess I just…lost my cool there." I gave him a nervous chuckle and looked around nervously. He sighed again, and said, "Just-just forget about it, okay?" I nodded and I assumed that that gave him the signal to change subjects.

Casually, Chris said, "So…" He then looked around the room as if to find something to talk about. "…how old are you?" I looked at him with a straight face because I'm pretty sure he knew what age I was. But I humored him anyway.

"17..." I told him, looking away. I waited for a response.

"Oh…" he finally answered. "I see…" When I looked back at him, he seemed to be thinking of another question. I was getting impatient.

"Yeah…and you?" I asked him, not wanting to wait for another mindless question.

"Huh? Are you asking me _my _age? Or…"

"Yeah!" I told him, nodding my head vigorously. Personally, this seemed like a pretty pointless conversation.

"16...16.…" he confirmed. After about a minute of silence, I decided to end this stupid conversation at once.

"You know what?" I said, looking him in the eye. "This…is stupid." He sighed and nodded his head in agreement.

"Thank you!" he cried. "I thought you'd _never _say that! Let's just…go out and get some food…maybe even catch up with the girls." I stood up and he stood up after me.

"That's a _great _idea!" I stated, following him to the door. On the way out, Chris shut the door behind us and said one last thing that made me laugh.

"You think Trina's still mad at me?" I just looked at him and laughed. "What!" he exclaimed. "I'm serious!" All I could do was lead him into the woods and chuckle at him.

**Trina**

My feet were aching and my stomach was growling. It was even barking and biting! I just couldn't wait to get back to the cabin and eat the chicken and bread we got. "Rosie," I called, looking down at her to my left. She looked up at me while holding two bags of food. "Do you think that Chris likes me?" She looked at me with sarcasm in her eyes.

"_No_!" she cried out, sarcastically. "No! I just think he's overprotective of you for _no _apparent reason!" I giggled at her comment and then I had a short epiphany.

"Wait…" I stopped walking, still holding my two bags of food. Rosie also paused. "You-you really think he's overprotective of me?" Rosie put her hands on her hips, all the while holding the bags.

"Of course, Trina!" she assured me. "Of _course _he is! He likes you…_a lot_! I think he just doesn't know how to tell you yet." I thought about all those times I'd been mean to him, and how he's always been trying to help _me _out. All he's done is try to protect me and be nice to me…while all _I've _done is treat him like dirt and yell at him!" I threw one of my bags down to the ground and stomped on it in anger. "Ugh! I feel so stupid!" Suddenly tears flowed down my eyes and I couldn't help but throw the other bag at a nearby tree and wipe my cheeks with my hands.

"Don't say that, Trina!" Rosie cried, coming closer to me. She took a hold of my hand with her hand and I looked down into her eyes. She was smiling, and that made me smile. "You're not stupid…you just…did stupid things." As if that were supposed to make me feel better, she grinned, but I let go of her hand and sobbed into my hands again. "No, Trina. I didn't mean that. I was just…tryin' to help." I stopped crying and looked up at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so freakin' emotional!" I exclaimed, wiping my tears. Rosie looked at me with a smile and I smiled back at her. "Come on…let's get back to the cabin." We then continued on our path back to the cabin.

**Chris**

**Night 7**

We were walking for about ten minutes when I realized that it was starting to get dark. I was starting to worry about the girls. What if they were lost…or worse: **dead!** "Peta, you don't think they're lost, do you?" I asked Peta, worriedly. He looked at me with true sincerity in his eyes.

"Uhhh…I hope not," is all he said to me. I was really scared then. I didn't know if I was more afraid of getting killed, or the fact that the girls might possibly be dead.

While walking, I noticed a tree with a hole in it. "Oh, look!" I pointed out, leading Peta over to the tree. "The girls…they were here!" But then Peta popped my bubble.

"But we don't know for sure that they did this," he told me. I frowned and sighed, knowing he was probably right. "We should get back…it's getting dark." I looked in the direction of the cabin, then to where we were heading.

I then stood up tall and thought about Trina and Rosie's smiling faces, and said, "No!" Peta gasped. "We can't just leave them out here, Peta."

"But-" I didn't feel like arguing with him(or anybody), so I just put my foot down.

"I'm sorry, Peta. It just goes against every fiber in my being to leave them like this!" Peta seemed to be awestruck by my decision to look for them. "So you can either go back to the cabin…" I then pointed back to the cabins. "…or you can stick with me…" I pointed to my chest. "…so what's it gonna be?" Peta looked back and forth at the cabins and at me, thinking nervously.

"Uh, I'll…" He looked back at the cabin once more, then back at me. "I'll stay with you." I smiled and made a fist, turning around to lead the way.

**Trina**

"Rosie!" I cried out. "I think we're lost!" We stopped and looked at our surroundings.

"You're right!" I wanted to cry again, but I managed to keep myself together. "What should we do?"

"First of all…put our backs together so nothing can sneak up on us." I thought that was a brilliant idea, so I turned slowly, paying attention to everything that moved in the trees. We were now back to back, looking up and down, left to right, making sure no one could creep up on us.

"Now what?" I asked, anxiously, taking big, deep breaths to keep from panicking. Rosie whistled a tune loud enough for it to resonate in the trees. "Wait-what are you-what are you doing?" Before either of us could speak again, a little blue bird hovered above my head. "Umm…Rosie?" I didn't know what to do or say other than that.

"It's alright, this is Scar!" she explained. I looked at the strange bird with my eyebrows arched.

"Uh, _Scar_?" I asked, confusedly. That's when it hit me. "Oh, the bird from the fire! He-or she-lead me to you and the fire that night! Him and another bird. A red bird!" Just then, Rosie whistled again, and the red bird I was talking about flew in next to the blue bird. "But wait-how are they supposed to help us?"

Rosie grabbed my right hand and squeezed it tight. "Oh, you'll see." I listened as Rosie began to give the birds instructions. I was starting to think that she was insane. "Scar, come here." To my surprise, it actually listened. "Okay, here's what I need you to do: Find Peta and Chris! And bring them here." There was a short moment of silence, and I looked to my left and right to check if anyone was watching. "Oh, right! Sorry, here's a seed." Another short silence. "And here's a piece of their clothes…now go find them! And hurry!" Then, the bird flew up and over me and into the thick woods.

"Do you really think that's gonna-" Before I could get out my question, she called the other bird over.

"Okay, Hope. Here's what I need you to do…" I stopped listening to her nonsensical bird talk at that point, and began to think about Blade. It seemed as though I've forgotten about him all at once.

I still couldn't believe he was gone, though. _How could the government let someone with hopes and wishes like his just be killed_? I thought. I noticed how I said the word 'hope' and chuckled out loud.

"What's so funny, Trina?" I heard Rosie say. I shook the thoughts from my mind and came back to reality.

"Oh, nothing, sorry," I apologized. I then began to think about the guys. I was wondering if we would ever see them again. I know that they could get annoying at times, especially Chris, but I still loved them _both_. "Hey, Rosie. Can I tell you somethin'?"

"Yeah, what is it?" I took a deep breath, then sighed slowly.

"Me and Peta…we um…" I choked up just thinking about it. "We um…" I couldn't seem to find the proper way to say it.

"You what?" Rosie demanded, getting slightly impatient. "You and Peta _what_, Trina?" I then decided to just swallow my pride and spit it out.

"Me and Peta kissed, alright!" There was an awkward stillness, but it was inevitably broken by Rosie.

"Wait-when? Where? How?" I turned to face her as did she to me.

"Uh, a few days ago. It was actually twice." She looked really surprised.

"Where?" I looked around anxiously, fiddling with my fingers.

"The first time was in the cabin when we slept on the floor, the second was when we rescued you from the fire." She stopped and thought for a moment, so I decided to speak once again. "But I'm not sure if I like him like that…" She looked at me sideways. "…_anymore_!" I quickly added, biting my finger waiting for Rosie's response.

She looked up at the sun setting, then at the moon rising. I was eager to hear her thoughts. "Well…" she said, looking at me and scratching her hair. "There's not much I can say to that…" I let out a sigh of discomfort and put my hand down disappointedly. When she saw how sad I was, she suddenly added on, "But…but but-and this is just an idea-but…how about…you do what your heart tells you to do." All I did was look at her for a minute.

"Seriously?" I retorted. "I was kinda hopin' you'd say somethin' like-" Just then, Rosie stared off behind me blankly. "What?" I whispered, looking behind me.

"Shhh…" she hushed quietly. She surveyed the area around us. "You hear that?" I looked around as well, but didn't hear anything but the sound of our own voices.

I ignorantly talked aloud. "Hear what? I don't hear any-" She quickly hushed me and I knew to talk quieter. "Hear what? What are you-" Before I say the rest, she adverted my attention by silently pointing to a single bush that was shaking. When it suddenly stopped shaking, that's when my heart dropped.

"What is it?" I whispered to Rosie.

"I don't know," she whispered back. "But whatever it is, it's watching us. Be careful." She then stood up slowly and walked near the bush as slow as possible.

"Rosie!" I cried. "What-what are you-"

"Don't worry, Trina. I'll be careful." I gulped and waited for the worst. Every footstep she took stomped on my heart, as the tension was slowly melting away at my insides.

Once Rosie got to the bush, I watched as she examined it. I was really scared, maybe a little bit _too _scared now that I think about it. After about four seconds, she turned back towards me and signaled a thumbs up. I let out a big sigh of relief and stood up.

"What was it?" I asked her as she came over to me.

"I…don't know." She had a puzzled look on her face, which wasn't normal, at least not for Rosie. "I coulda _sworn _I saw something with bright, red eyes in the bushes." Looking back at the bush again, she then added, "I guess I was just seeing things…" She looked back at me and since I didn't have a response, I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Hey, what happened to your little _bird _friends?" I asked her, mockingly. She looked even more puzzled now.

"I don't know!" she seemed to start panicking a little then. "They should be back now." She looked around, nervously, and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Scar! Hope!" she belted. "Scar! Where are-" I swiftly grabbed a hold of her and covered her mouth, preventing her from screaming again.

"What's the matter with you?" I whispered, angrily. "You can't just yell like that! There could be Peace-" I was silenced by a bone chilling sensation running down the back of my neck. As I let go of Rosie, she looked at me with extreme concern.

"What? What is it?" she begged, frightened. I almost screamed when a single Peacekeeper jumped out from a few trees and grabbed Rosie by the arms. I cupped my hands over my mouth, not sure of what to do or say.

Before I _could _say or do anything, Rosie was struggling to get free. But without any difficulty, she was able to elbow the Peacekeeper in the chest. Assuming he or she would have armor or plating, I thought nothing would happen. But to our avail, he or she let go of Rosie and put both hands(they wore gloves for some reason) on his or her chest.

"Come on," I directed, shakily, also trying to take advantage of the moment. We then ran in the direction of the cabins, and as if by some strange coincidence, we ran into the guys. The birds were also with them. I could tell by their expressions that they too, were being chased by some Peacekeepers.

"Trina, Rosie!" cried out Peta while still running. "You're okay!"

"Not the time!" Rosie barked at him. "They're after us!" _Fair enough_, I thought to myself. We were only a few feet away from the door, but as usual, something bad happened at the perfect time.

Rosie tripped over a rock and stumbled onto her hands and knees. Chris and Peta hadn't noticed, so they kept going to the door. I, on the other hand, stopped and motioned for her to get back up. She looked up at me with the cutest puppy dog eyes, and I saw that her knee had a gaping hole in it. I gasped and looked at the guys, who had stopped at the door. "Rosie, you have to get up!" I pleaded. I could hear the sound of the Peacekeepers' footsteps getting closer every second.

"But my-my…leg!" she choked, getting dizzy. I knew that the Peacekeepers would soon be there, so I had to act fast. So I leaped back to Rosie, and carefully, but quickly picked her up. "It _hurts_!" she whined. Heroically, I carried her to the guys, and they opened the door, waiting for us to get inside. Once inside, the boys shut the door and the Peacekeepers stopped right where Rosie had fell. My heart was pounding at the speed of light, and I could barely breathe.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Peta, leaning against the back wall, trying to catch his breath. I was on my knees looking at Rosie's cut as she sat on my bed. Chris was in his bed wiping the sweat off his face.

"Uh, no…" I stated, looking at her knee. I tried my best not to throw up while examining the 2 inch deep cut. It was more of a scrape than a cut, but it was still horrifying to me either way. "Come look." They both did as told and when they saw what I saw, they almost gagged.

Chris sat on the bed next to Rosie, squeezing her hand as she winced repeatedly. "It's alright, it's alright. Everything's gonna be just fine." Rosie didn't seem to care about what he was saying, because she was constantly squeezing his hand and closing her eyes, shaking rapidly.

"Ow!" she yelped, covering the cut with her free hand. I immediately pushed her hand away and scolded her.

"Stop! You're just gonna make it worse if you touch it." She was in a lot of pain, and it hurt me to see her in this condition. "Peta, go get the first-aid kit from under the bed." He got on his knees and searched underneath the bed we were on. He then pulled out the first-aid kit and handed it to me. Nervously, I opened it up and took out the gauze, alcohol, and cotton.

I then gently put the cotton over the top of the alcohol bottle, turning it upside down. Then I dabbed Rosie's wound with cotton, and she groaned in pain. "I'm sorry, Rosie. But I have to do this." I looked up at her to see that her eyes were shut tight and she was biting her lip.

After using the cotton, I put it to the side, and slowly wrapped the gauze around her knee. "Okay," I said, standing up. "I'm done. But you're gonna have to stay put for a few days…you got it?" She looked at her leg, then at me with a content frown. Then she forced herself to nod her head, so I took it upon myself to get back down and put the material back into the first-aid kit.

"So I won't be able to leave the cabin?" she asked, innocently. I stood up and sighed, thinking about how to tell her gently.

"No!" I snapped, without thinking enough. When I saw that she was startled by my reaction, I quickly added, "I mean, uh, you can leave…but only if one of us is carrying you. 'Cause any pressure will, um, make it worse." Rosie looked at the ground in thought, then gave me a tiny smile and nodded her head.

"I understand," she said, putting her head down in sorrow. I couldn't stand to see her upset, but I didn't know what to say, so I just kept my mouth shut. After about two or three minutes of awkward silence, I felt my stomach rumble. I assumed Peta heard it because he stood up from the bed and began to suggest an idea.

"Gee, I sure am hungry right about now," he said, looking at the three of us. "Who wants to eat?" I looked at Rosie, who hesitated to raise her hand. Then I looked over at Chris who had his hand up halfway. I also put mine up. "Okay, there's three and a half bags of food-I got a little hungry on the way back. So we can eat enough to be full and probably still have enough left over for tomorrow." We each exchanged concerning glances and I was nonchalant about almost everything that happened from that moment on(at least for the night).

We ate meat and bread, and we also had plenty of water from the well. Although we ate enough, we still had lots left over for the next morning. I went to bed full, although that didn't stop my mind from wandering into places I hated it to be.

_Oh, I know! A doctor! _I heard Blade's voice say in my mind. I choked as I watched and heard the whole thing replay in my head. _I just thought that you would've said something silly, like a rock star, or a-a Peacekeeper, or something like that, _I heard myself explain. I began to sweat as I visualized that horrible scene over and over in my mind. _Why the heck would I wanna be a Peacekeeper? _He laughed. Somehow his words and voice were mocking me, making me want to cry or scream. But I didn't, I just stayed strong and blew those thoughts out of my brain.

After that, I still couldn't get to sleep, but at least I wasn't thinking about Blade anymore. I was now thinking about Peta and our little argument earlier. And how I yelled at Chris in the woods. _God! I bet he hates me now!_ I pondered, looking up and down, side to side. I just then noticed that the lights were out. _Maybe I should apologize to him…_ I thought about that for a while, then added a short side note. "Tomorrow," I finished aloud, whispering. Then I closed my eyes, thinking about Peta again. Then I remembered that Rosie was sleeping in my bed with her back towards mine, so I started to form some thoughts of her and concentrate on her for a little while. After about a few minutes of that, I began to grow weary and restless, so for the rest of the night, I was fighting myself to go to sleep, which made me even more tire

**Peta**

**Day 8**

The next morning, I was really stiff, and my back was in so much pain from sleeping on the floor. Rosie, on the other hand, slept comfortably in Trina's bed. I assumed she 'slept like a baby' as people used to say.

When I got to my feet, I took a good look at everyone in the cabin, and it felt weird. Like there was an unusual, yet vaguely familiar, atmosphere in the room. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but whatever it was, it must not have been that important considering that I couldn't recall what it was.

Everyone was asleep, however, and that's how it usually was. It seemed as though almost every time I woke up, everyone else was asleep. Either that or someone would wander outside the cabin; but no one would ever wake up and stay inside the cabin, though. I thought it was so strange, but then again I thought a lot of things were strange and peculiar.

So in the hopes of not getting too irrelevant, I think I'll get back to what was happening. I stretched a little, then yawned, consciously turning towards the door. As I opened up the door, I realized that up to now, my life has been a downward spiral. From hearing my little sister's terrifying screams right before she burned to death, to being enrolled in the _Peace Wars. _I decided at that moment that I hated my life, but there was only one thing that gave me the will to live, and that one thing was Trina's smiling face.

Without getting too deep into detail, I think I'll just continue telling my story.

Once outside, I took a peacefully deep breath and closed my eyes. As I breathed in the calm, forest air, I heard something move in the bushes nearby. I opened my eyes and slowly crept over to examine the noise. "He-hello?" I asked, shakily. There was no reply, yet the rattling continued. "If anyone's in there, I'm not gonna hurt you." I waited for a response, but to no avail. "Whatever-or whoever's-in there…please just come out and-" To my surprise, a scary-looking boy with a white t-shirt and blue jeans popped out of the bushes. I was frightened, nervous, and speechless all at the same time. "Uh…" I muttered, backing away, while he came closer to me, grinning devilishly.

"Hello…" he said, still smiling. I looked around nervously and thought to myself. _Do I know him? Why was he in the bushes? Has he been spying on me? _As all these thoughts rolled through my mind, I also wondered what he could possible have against _me. _

"Uhh…do I know you?" I questioned him, curiously. He just smiled bigger and he was beginning to creep me out.

"No…but I know _you!" _he told me. "I've been keeping a close eye on you lately…and I've gotta say: You're pretty weird." I stopped backing up and he stopped getting closer to me.

I wasn't nervous anymore, but insulted. "Wait-what? You've been…_spying_ on me?" Before he could even answer, I felt a hand on my back, causing me to jump in fear. When I turned around, I saw Bonnie's vengeful face. "Oh my god, Bonnie! What are you-"

"Shut up, Peta!" she ordered, pulling out a knife and handing it to the other boy.

"Ho-how do you know my name?" I stuttered, now completely afraid again. "And where-where'd you get that-"

Once again, I was interrupted by Bonnie's threatening voice. "Look, Peta! I'm not gonna stand here all day and answer remedial questions. I'm gonna tell you _one _time, and one time only: Stay _away _from us…or else!" As she looked into my nervous and highly afraid eyes, I noticed that she had a cut on the right side of her forehead. She also had a bruise on her left cheek and another cut on her right cheek. Her face was pretty banged up for a girl as pretty as her.

"Ummm…" I bravely hummed. "If it's not too much to ask…" I let my voice trail off as I planned my next words extra carefully.

"This better be important!" the boy demanded. I then backed out from in between them and turned my back towards the cabin.

"Okay…" I said, putting my hands behind my back. "Well…you know how-" I suddenly made an unexpected sprint into the woods and assumed that they were coming after me. My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating as I ran into the woods, trying not to look back.

After a couple of seconds, I heard Bonnie yell out. "Get back here!" she furiously shouted at me. I turned my head slightly to look behind me, and I saw that they were both chasing directly after me. My heart began to beat even faster, but I ignored it and continued to run, looking ahead now.

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I felt like I could do most anything just about then. But first I had to lose these two, and I knew that wasn't going to be easy, considering _my _physical abilities and _their _weapon advantage.

So while running, I thought about reasoning with them. "What do you guys want with me?" I called out, praying for the best. As I turned my head, I saw that they were no longer running, but waiting. So I nervously screeched to a halt, nearly falling to my face. Then I walked over to Bonnie and the boy, and repeated myself once more. "Wha-what do you guys want with-"

"Revenge!" she interrupted. I thought for a moment, then opened my mouth to speak. But before I could even say anything, she had already begun to explain. "You killed Trenton…" As she said it, she hung her head down in despair. Then she quickly lifted her head up, and looked at me with a smile. "So now we're gonna kill _you!" _She leaped forward, and tightly clutched onto my neck, bringing me down to my back. With her on my windpipe, I also had the wind knocked out of me due to the fall.

"Get…off…" I breathed, gasping for air. I frantically struggled to move her hands from my throat, but she had a stronghold on me. "I can't…breathe!" I managed to cry. She just gave me an evil grin.

"That's the point," she laughed.

"Slow…" the boy said. "…and painful. _That's _the way to go!" At that exact moment, there was a gunshot, and I knew exactly who it was. And thankfully for me, Bonnie loosened her grip a little. It was just long enough for me to push her onto the ground beside me.

Before she could do anything, I quickly got to my feet and looked in the direction of the cabin. "Trina!" I exclaimed, joyfully. I forgot all about Bonnie and her partner, and started to run towards Trina. Her expression went from angry to shocked.

"Peta! Watch out!" I stopped and looked around to see what she was talking about, but before I knew it, I was tackled by the boy. He put the knife against my chin, and I held my breath to keep from getting cut.

"You're gonna die, boy!" he told me, very upset at that point. I rose my eyebrows slightly in fear and looked deep into his sinister brown eyes. In an instant, there was another gunshot. Following after the gunshot, he dropped the knife beside me and just stared blankly into my face. I stared back at him, more nervous than ever, but then watched as blood oozed out from his mouth and he rolled over to my side. I sat up, letting out a sigh of relief, while Bonnie scurried over and kneeled down at his side.

I did the only thing I could think of doing, which was get to my feet and meet up with Trina. She was still holding the gun up, so I gently pushed it down to her waist. "Oh my god, Peta. Are you okay?" She analyzed my body for any cuts or bruises.

"Yeah…" I said, tiredly. "Yeah…let's get away before she comes for us." She nodded and followed me as I guided her back to the cabin. I could hear Bonnie's crying as we ran off.

"No!" she screamed, sobbing. "No! Clyde! Wake up! Please…don't go!" I felt kind of sorry for her, but then I remembered how they both tried to kill me, and that feeling of guilt was suddenly washed away.

Once back inside the safety of our own cabin, Chris and Rosie were awake. Trina and Rosie sat on Trina's bed, while Chris and I sat on his bed. It was like a little family meeting, and Trina and I were the ones that called it to session.

"Okay," said Trina. Everyone's eyes were glued on her as she spoke. "Bonnie and Clyde just tried to kill Peta." Rosie gasped, putting her hand over her mouth in surprise. "But…" she continued. "But-but-but…"

I decided to finish her sentence for her. "But…Trina _shot_ Clyde." When I said his name, I realized how cliché it was_._

Rosie gasped again along with Chris. "Is he dead?" asked Rosie, holding her breath, worriedly. Trina and I exchanged a concerning glance, then when Rosie looked at her for an answer, Trina firmly nodded one time. With that, Rosie's reaction was to gasp one last time, and there was a moment of silence followed shortly after.


End file.
